Curato et al. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662513518154. Document analysis is a form of qualitative research in which documents are interpreted by the researcher to give voice and meaning around an assessment topic (Bowen, 2009). Agenda setting uses the theory of accessibility when deciding what stories to run, how often to run them, and where to place them. Building upon the ongoing development of democratic science and technology governance, for several decades, there has been a demand for reflexive and responsive institutions facilitating more constructive science-society interactions [6]. Similar work shows that not all groups follow the invitations of policymakers to respond. Accessibility Accessibility refers to the ability to obtain information easily. The first two paradigms were characterised by attributing knowledge and attitude deficiencies to the public, rendering it incapable of understanding science, with the result of limited appreciation for and raising fears of science (and technology). In addition, they are contrasted with tools that impose agendas, which unsurprisingly sit comfortably within a reactive and impositional governmental policy agenda style (see for e.g. Another way to expand on the typology of agenda-setting instruments is to link it to the discussion of high versus low-cost strategies, developed by Cobb and Ross (Citation1997). Thus, we do not touch on an obvious case whereby external interests simply take on an antagonistic indirect strategy in engaging with government (see Binderkrantz, Citation2005). Participatory technology assessment (pTA) specifically aimed at strengthening inclusive deliberation on emerging technologies and STI agendas [8, 9], whilst foresight, and here especially horizon scanning activities with participatory elements, focussed early on the potential of stakeholder engagement for on identifying new topics for STI governance [10,11,12,13]. We might expect this to occur after an election that brings with it a change of government, or in areas where their manifesto pledges are critical to re-election. However, network building can be a side-effect as well. In brief, the study of agenda setting concerns the ranking of government priorities. This shows that expert takeovers in citizen involvement processes can contribute to a loss of authenticity [89]. [85] show that several research questions emerged during the PASE, which were previously largely ignored by health research, whilst Matschoss et al. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. Generate: There is a large and growing literature documenting how group populations are effectively seeded by national governmental institutions and some supranational and international organizations (like the EU and UN) in order to create policy partners. Such a goal is shared by the open science initiative which has been unfolding for the past decade, aiming at increasing sciences responsiveness to public needs amongst other things [65]. Public Underst Sci 23(1):415. Students of public policy have spent considerable effort setting out the types of policy instruments or tools available to policymakers in different stages of the policy process. [34] who discuss intra-personal relations in public engagement and conclude that building such networks contributes to the notion of capacity building, and should be seen as a major effect. Referring to the concept of undone science [56], Balzs et al. As far back as 1922 the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. And, a recent stream of work has begun to provide insights into what drives processes of agenda-setting, the size or carrying capacities of group agendas (see Barakso, Citation2004; Fraussen, Citation2014; Goss, Citation2010; Halpin, Citation2014; Heaney, Citation2004; Scott, Citation2013; Strolovitch, Citation2007). The agenda setting theory is both advantageous and disadvantageous. foresight, or public actors such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), may benefit from increased attention towards reflexivity and transparency of inherent normativity. Thus, the emphasis is on what policymakers can deploy. Do these vary across policy sectors? Since Schattschneiders observation that whomever controls what is admitted as a policy issue exercises substantial power, a myriad of social scientists have explored what propels an issue onto the public agenda, the life-cycles of issues, and why some issues make it, and others do not. Finally, it has been described that PASE activities have transformative capacities, e.g. https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2019.1568145, Lang DJ, Wiek A, Bergmann M, Stauffacher M, Martens P, Moll P, Swilling M, Thomas CJ (2012) Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges. the distinction between substantive and procedural policy tools. Public Underst Sci 13(1):5574. The paper refocuses attention of policy scholars onto the means and strategies that policymakers deploy to manage government agendas, a process which has clear implications for what becomes a policy problem and thereafter potentially subject to governmental action. c. [79] describe how transdisciplinary co-creation of a research agenda for global change research at national level in Finland led to the inclusion of important societal topics that may otherwise have been neglected by researchers. Gudowsky et al. Other fields that frequently act as organisers of agenda setting activities, e.g. Foresight 18(3):276296. The process involves a variety of interests is seen as the strengths of the policy cycle because the decisions are more rational. From the perspective of engaging with interest groups, and thus a consultative or consensus policy style, we might usefully divide agenda-setting instruments into types that seek to (a) routinise demands (such as consultations and stakeholder events), (b) regularise demands (such as legislative sunset clauses and scheduled reviews), or (c) generate demands (such as funding policy publics). Dedicating time and space to the development of interaction is also contingent upon the availability of resources, and influences the development of relationships between groups, especially where competing agendas are supported and receive targeted attention and funding [81]. Definition of setting the agenda in the Idioms Dictionary. This involvement can redress power imbalances in health research agenda setting [53]. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Gatekeeping Theory. Public Philos Democ Edu 5(2):2950, Mayring P (2014) Qualitative content analysis: theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution. Res Policy 42(9):15681580. Eur J Futur Res 8(1):7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-020-00166-9, Balzs B, Horvth J, Pataki G (2020) Science-society dialogue from the start: participatory research agenda-setting by Science Cafs. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0258-4, Repo P, Matschoss K (2019) Considering expert takeovers in citizen involvement processes. EuropeanCommission. The ability to build trust and enhance reflexivity in participants is a basis for mutual learning to take place within participatory processes. 1. Google Scholar. This is however not a design fault made by organisers, but already inscribed into the funding schemes of such initiatives. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243904271724, Manaf E, Petermann L, Vandall-Walker V, Mason-Lai P (2018) Patient and public engagement in priority setting: a systematic rapid review of the literature. Balzs et al. Analyzing documents incorporates coding content into themes similar to how focus group or interview transcripts are analyzed (Bowen,2009). Fritz and Binder [83] discuss the dimensions of politics and power inherent to transdisciplinary sustainability research. Other communication theories that can also gain benefit from gatekeeping includes framing (Breed, 1955) etc. The second, consistent with recent design studies that suggest that governments have come to rely on a mix or portfolio of policy tools rather than single instruments (see e.g. Eur J Futur Res 2(1), Joss S, Bellucci S (2002) Participatory technology assessment European perspectives. That is, the governments (often coercive) use of political legitimacy to advance preferred agendas while dismissing the need for public consultation or engagement. For example, we have seen governments unilaterally expand social policy benefits or entitlements in response to perceived electoral threats, or in the wake of heightened electoral competition (Haggard & Kaufman, Citation2008; Ramesh & Asher, Citation2000). Causal logics and mechanisms in policy design: How and why adopting a mechanistic perspective can improve policy design, The knowns and unknowns of policy instrument analysis: Policy tools and the current research agenda on policy mixes, How policy instruments are chosen: Patterns of decision makers choices, Designing policy robustness: Outputs and processes, Narratives as tools for influencing policy change, The visible hand of the state: On the organization development of interest groups, Interest groups and (re)establishing stability in policy making: The case of the NSW farmers association and the native vegetation conservation act, Explaining policy bandwagons: Organized interest mobilization and cascades of attention, Interest groups and agenda-setting styles, Outside the issue niche: The multidimensionality of interest group identity, The rise and fall of social problems: A public arenas model, Intellectual obsolescence and intellectual makeovers: Reflections on the tools of government after two decades, Issue-Attention and punctuated equilibria models reconsidered: An empirical examination of the dynamics of agenda-setting in Canada, Managing the hollow state: Procedural policy instruments and modern governance, From tools to toolkits in policy design studies: The new design orientation towards policy formulation research, Agenda-Setting tools: State-driven agenda activity from government relations to scenario forecasting, Paper Presented at ECPR General Conference 2014. Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. Providing spaces for co-creation and bringing together various actor groups allowed for the co-design of a future research agenda which focused on how to solve real-life societal questions, for instance by exploring emergency usages, behaviours and market opportunities based on societal and user needs [79]. Whilst all the abovementioned factors contribute to ineffectiveness, translation of PASE results into the policy realm remains a central challenge [80], for instance when aiming at inspiring a change in national funding schemes [85]. This deficit model has been much critiqued and resulted in the third paradigm of a rather equal science and society relation. Despite their critical role in shaping policy outcomes, procedural tools are under studied in the tools literature. That is, what combination of specific instruments are deployed to routinise or regularise demands? Hinrichs and Johnston [81] conclude that refined PASE can support the development of governance infrastructures that maintain inclusion and accountability of the public in the decision-making process, whilst Balzs et al. A similar statement is made by Cobb and Ross (Citation1997, p. 17) who observe that most of the time, officials are risk averse: issue avoidance is the norm. Whilst citizen science rather seldomly influences basic research agendas, it contributes to policy agenda setting, e.g. Public engagement activities, especially multi-stage PASE ones, need sufficient resources, and a lack thereof decreases process function, quality and ownership, and thus any impact. [32] also find a shift towards strengthening issues of governance of science and the transformation of scientific institutions when compared with to science education and public communication of science. Most of the early work on policy tools focussed on the number and types of tools (see Hood, Citation1986; Kirschen et al., Citation1964; Lowi, Citation1966; Schneider & Ingram, Citation1990) with the aim to develop taxonomies and frameworks for describing how governments pursue policy goals in different policy sectors (Hood, Citation2007; Howlett, Citation2000; Salamon, Citation2002). Procedural tools, however, do not directly affect production of goods and services, but affect how policy is formulated and/or implemented. For instance, governments will regularly underwrite the capacity of groups via placing staff on secondment in group secretariats or providing project funding for specific tasks. The second relates to the focus of this special issue, i.e. Sci Public Policy 39(2):191207. Furthermore, political appreciation of results and a will to implement democratic STI governance is a key limiting factor. References Feezell, J.T. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-021-00177-0, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-021-00177-0. Enabling mutual learning and reflexivity lays the foundation for (knowledge) co-creation [93,94,95,96]. tations of group work. The recurrence of specific news raises awareness among people about the issue and how to solve it. Sci Public Policy 39(2):135139. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. RRI emerged from preceding and ongoing developments in technology assessment, anticipatory governance or upstream engagement (Owen, [7]). Combining these dimensions can become a transformative ingredient of responsibilisation of actors and institutions in R&I systems [15]. 2. Public Underst Sci 2(4):321337. In summary, research agendas are increasingly becoming the target of multi-actor engagement processes aiming at integrating a broader base of information by considering other forms of knowledge [70]. stakeholder communities. Scholars have a well-developed literature that captures the way policymakers deploy sets of policy instruments or tools to make or develop public policy. Eur J Futur Res 8(1):10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-020-00169-6, Schroth F, Glatte H, Kaiser S, Heidingsfelder M (2020) Participatory agenda setting as a process of people, ambassadors and translation: a case study of participatory agenda setting in rural areas. For instance, a government may seek to lock in regular reviews on statutory authorities with representation from key client groups in order to ensure their favoured issue agenda remains entrenched (even after they leave government). The concluding discussion speaks to the strengths of the proposed typology, and to points an agenda on advancing the scholarship on agenda-setting tools. To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. The application of health promotion agenda-setting in practice enables a comprehensive, planned, innovative, and sustainable course of action which facilitates prioritization of public health. Kingdon: Theory of Multiple Streams Explains why some issues reach the agenda and are prominent and others are not. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199987269.001.0001, Chilvers JE, Kearnes ME (2016) Remaking participation. Recent work has gone as far to designate narrative as policy tools (Crow & James, Citation2018), yet this work specifically concerns explaining variation in how the public consumes (and believes) some messages and not others. framing research agendas. It includes contributions from several disciplines and interdisciplines as well as adjacent fields, including futures studies, foresight, technology assessment (TA), science and technology studies (STS), design and innovation management. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-018-0143-y, Gudowsky N, Bechtold U, Peissl W, Sotoudeh M (2021) Democratising utopian thought for research and innovation. 36, 1972, pp. Each case included in this paper points towards the dynamics of change and continuity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-020-00211-7, Peter M, Diektter T, Kremer K (2019) Participant outcomes of biodiversity citizen science projects: a systematic literature review. That is, governments can fund think tanks and research institutes (or programs within these institutions) which are then called to aid policy deliberation. One can imagine using parliamentary inquiries to foster new demands especially if they are committees chaired by opposition parties. agenda-setting by focussing on the use of agenda-setting models and by applying it to physical education and school sport and the policy agenda of the national government. For a critical review of this model, see Everett M. Rogers, 'Mass Media and Interpersonal Communication', in Ithiel de Sola Pool and Wilbur Schramm, eds., Handbook of Communi cation. The vast literature on social problems, policy problems, and so on, have emphasised (rightly) that policymakers like all political agents will use language, storytelling and framing strategies to direct the attention of those with whom they engage (Baumgartner & Jones, Citation1991; Kingdon, Citation1984). in the natural sciences, may struggle more to see such benefits [57], especially when public engagement requires comprehensive information about the field prior to the involvement, e.g. Science and Public Policy, Pratt B, Merritt M, Hyder AA (2016) Towards deep inclusion for equity-oriented health research priority-setting: a working model. Criticism towards the deficit model followed several lines of arguments, for instance that it fails to recognise the importance of local knowledge-in-context [23], or the flawed general assumption that because citizens show mistrust in science, they are deficient and therefore not to be trusted when asked about issues related to science and technology. Multiple stream theory, however, gives much more attention to multiple determinants of policy agenda, including factors such as cost, interest group power, and the power of political parties and actors. Governing future technologies: nanotechnology and the rise of an assessment regime. Several authors report that the use of boundary objectsdata-driven or design-basedin terms of models, scenarios or artefacts as tools for facilitating dialogue was successful in establishing a common understanding of issues and partially shared meaning [80,81,82]. Sci Public Policy 39(2):208221. This section shortly summarises the diverse contributions to the topical collection. A qualitative content analysis was performed by assigning categories to text passages as a qualitative-interpretative act, following content-analytical rule [76] to analyse content and contextual meaning of text passages [77]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.07.017, Knnla T, Haegeman K (2012) Embedding foresight in transnational research programming. PubMedGoogle Scholar. Until recently, researchers on agenda-setting and Internet media have for the most part defined for Three recent major events in which so-called alternative purposes of study Internet media as websites, bulletin sources were influential include the coverage of boards or online discussion groups. These might be about denial of space to issues, removing or dislodging existing issues from the agenda or issue acquiescence whereby an issue is argued to fail the test of a public problem (see discussion in Cobb & Ross, Citation1997; Hilgartner & Bosk, Citation1981). This includes the use of, for example, the use of advisory commissions, public inquiries, and citizen juries to inform policy deliberation; and the use of networks and partnerships in delivering public services, etc. Creating a depoliticised space for deliberation lowered cultural barriers between stakeholder groups and facilitated mutual learning [81]. The changing British policy style: From governance to government? Whilst these categories may be somewhat arbitrary and other researcher may have assigned different labels, they fulfil their function in allowing for a structured discussion of limits and benefits of the reported PASE activities as well as for drawing generalised conclusions for the field. Given their large economic impact, most of the literature has focused on substantive tools, how they are designed and ultimately deployed (Capano & Howlett, Citation2020). In the UK, such organizations have been referred to in the literature as sporadic interventionists (Dowse & Hughes, Citation1977) and as policy amateurs (Halpin Citation2011). Comp Eur Politics 14(1):107124, Selin C, Rawlings KC, de Ridder-Vignone K, Sadowski J, Altamirano Allende C, Gano G, Davies SR, Guston DH (2016) Experiments in engagement: designing public engagement with science and technology for capacity building. Thus, a concrete understanding of the means or various techniques by which governments go about managing this agenda-setting processg is no doubt a useful development of the policy instruments literature. b. Health research priority setting is arguably required by the judiciary when state interests are at stake, for example in the promotion of health equity [49]. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547015588601, Wang X (2015) Revisiting Upstream Public Engagement: from a Habermasian Perspective. 176-87. Alongside anticipation, inclusion and responsiveness, reflexivity is one of the main dimensions of the concept of RRI (Stilgoe, [91]), and defined as ability to reflect on values and beliefs during research and development [14]. statement and Here are some prominent advantages of agenda-setting: Generates awareness: Agenda-setting can be beneficial as it highlights important societal issues by actively discussing them. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2012.751012, Gudowsky N, Sotoudeh M (2017) Into blue skiesa transdisciplinary foresight and co-creation method for adding robustness to visioneering. Whilst all PASE exercises explored in this topical collection had other primary aims, successful science communication was noted in some of the cases. To some extent, such settings emerge from conditions prescribed by the funding body of the PASE activity, resulting in limited accountability of the dominant groups [83]. Open research agenda setting., Gudowsky N, Peissl W (2016) Human centred science and technologytransdisciplinary foresight and co-creation as tools for active needs-based innovation governance. The authors conclude that a particular strength of the analysed approach to research agenda setting could be found in its capacity to combine the multiplicity of views emerging from the diversity of participants. Third, our approach adopts a version of institutionalised politics where organised interests seek to engage government. The agenda setting theory explores how the views and thoughts of the public can be altered by what they see and hear in the media. Sci Eng Ethics 26(3):17091741. While policy instruments (or tools) are crucial for all parts of the policy process, the literature has tended to focus disproportionately on the implementation stage (Howlett, Citation2019, p. 8). What are the institutional pre-requisites need to pursue strategies presented in Table 1? Gudowsky, N. Limits and benefits of participatory agenda setting for research and innovation. Referring to the concept of undone science [56], the authors show that several research questions emerged during the PASE, which are largely ignored by health research. The literature has identified that groups may well pursue such an approach when they are denied inside access, lack standing or status with policymakers, or hold views or purposes which policymakers simply cannot abide (see discussion in Maloney, Jordan, & McLaughlin, Citation1994). In particular, guided by the literature from agenda setting, attitude strength, and the hierarchy of effects, the analysis tested hypotheses about the relationships among media coverage, public. Knowledge Democracy. Eur J Futur Res 4(1). Oxford University Press, Bora A, Hausendorf H (2006) Participatory science governance revisited: normative expectations versus empirical evidence. Participants described agenda setting and rated the importance of proposed domains. PE in the natural sciences often comes in form of citizen science, which primarily focusses on science communication or the involvement in data collection [60, 61]. As TA is inherently democratic, it has actively promoted public engagement in science and technology, relying not only on functional arguments of inclusion in modern democracy, but also on a normative one such as the empowerment of citizens and stakeholders, and its value in itself [69]. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. agenda setting theory and noted that media influence, on which agenda setting theory focuses, was correlated with public attention to issues. Boussaguet L (2015) Participatory mechanisms as symbolic policy instruments? Instead, a straightforward fourth set of instruments designed to impose an agenda can be considered. A related question focuses on the capacities of governments (see e.g. Such structures and an uneven distribution of power and resources lead to undone science, a term referring to areas of research that are left unfunded, incomplete, or generally ignored but that social movements or civil society organisations often identify as worthy of more research [56]. Since health research has been, until today, the most prominent scientific field that applies participatory agenda setting, taking a closer look at the abovementioned arguments is essential. Quotes that at least partially related to the research question and large enough to provide sufficient context were extracted and comprised in a database, where preliminary categories were assigned. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193579, Gastil J (2017) In: Jamieson KH, Kahan DM, Scheufele DA (eds) Designing public deliberation at the intersection of science and public policy. Gudowsky et al. The authors describe the rise of agroecology as innovative paradigm in agriculture, which relies on participatory research and sustainability principles. Examples of these are tools such as consultations, working groups or consultative committees. [79] state that the PASE lead to the inclusion of important societal topics that may otherwise have been neglected by researchers. From a government perspective, these tools provide a way to build consensus as to what the policy problem is, and the range of solutions that seem credible. An example of this is seeing a sensational or scandalous story at the top of a broadcast as opposed to a story that happened more recently or one that affects . Whilst knowledge integration is uncontested, the authors nevertheless state that much less is known about the how, which is in line with previous findings regarding the often prevalent implicitness of knowledge on knowledge integration [4]. Georghiou L, Cassingena Harper J (2011) From priority-setting to articulation of demand: foresight for research and innovation policy and strategy. Of course, this tool can also be pressed into service to lock in agendas. Even though RRI is shifting its concept, its main dimensions inclusion, anticipation, responsiveness and reflexivity are established, with the addition of two emerging dimensions, i.e. As a result, advice-giving processes opened up to public participation, becoming a norm in, for instance, foresight [67]. Eur J Futur Res 8(1):2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-020-0162-3, Rosa AB, Kimpeler S, Schirrmeister E, Warnke P (2021b) Participatory foresight and reflexive innovation: setting policy goals and developing strategies in a bottom-up, mission-oriented, sustainable way. Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Apostelgasse 23, 1030, Vienna, Austria, You can also search for this author in 3099067 For instance, defining a problem in a particular way, and attributing blame to particular agents or processes, is a central mechanism through which policymakers set the scope for a consultation, taskforce or inquiry. This corresponds to Selin et al. Research programme development acts as an early entry point for public needs and values into the innovation process [71, 72]. In discussing illustrative examples of policy tools used to manage demands, following Capano and Howlett (Citation2019), we also briefly comment on the mechanisms that underpin these four strategies. Matschoss et al. One notable area of renewed emphasis concerns the agenda-setting phase which scholars claim has been subject to relatively little attention (Howlett, Citation1997; Howlett & Shivakoti, Citation2014). Expert- and stakeholder-based anticipation of future developments, identification of possible challenges and solutions to frame respective strategic decisions has been embedded into research programming [11, 63, 64]; nevertheless, it presents a limited approach to shaping futures as this may neglect societal needs and values and therefore valid alternative futures. J Innov Entrep 1(1):2. https://doi.org/10.1186/2192-5372-1-2, Bauer MW, Allum N, Miller S (2007) What can we learn from 25 years of PUS survey research?