Public Policy Analysis and Decision Making

Public Management (PMGT) 5180

Basic techniques of policy analysis and decision making for the public sector.
Course Purpose and Objectives
Needed materials
Course Outline
Instructor/More Information

Course Purpose and objectives

Purpose :

The goal of this course is to make you indispensable employees. Our emphasis is on gaining practical decision making skills. Some problems are exceedingly difficult to solve, and the ability to solve them is a rare skill. This course will introduce you to the skills needed to identify the right technique and use it to solve perplexing problems.

Course Objectives :

1) To gain experience structuring ill defined problems.

2) To gain experience selecting a technique to solve problems.

3) To gain experience using analytic techniques to solve the problems.

4) To gain experience communicating the results.

5) To gain experience preparing policy issue papers.

Needed materials :

Texts

Stokey, Edith and Zeckhauser, Richard, A Primer for Policy Analysis New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1978.
Anderson, David R., Sweeney, Dennis J., Williams, Thomas A. and Joseph, Daniel A. The Management Scientist, Version 5.0 for Windows 95, 98, and NT St. Paul: West Publishing Co. 1999.
Evan Berman. Essential Statistics for Public Managers and Policy Analyists. Washington: Congressional Quarterly Press. 2002.

Other :

Computer Disk : Please buy 3.5" High Density, IBM format (1.44MB) diskette.
Internet Access : If you do not already have an internet account, please get a free internet account and learn to use it early in the semester. some instructional materials and class discussion may be put on the web.
Access to SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is helpful.

Course Outline :

This is a summer tentative schedule which is adapted each semester to fit the academic calendar. Any Changes to this tentative schedule will be announced in class. If you miss class, check with your classmates or the Web site for assignments and schedule changes.

Class	Topic	Essential Statistics	Policy Analysis	Management Scientist
1	Intro to Policy Analysis How do we know? Policy Issue Paper and Executive Summary Format	Ch. 1	Ch.1, 15
2	Levels of Data, Contingency tables, Chi Square test. Homework Helps	Ch. 2, 3
3	Simple Regression	Ch. 6
4	Multiple Regression	Ch. 7
5	Decision Analysis		Ch. 12	Ch.11
6	Cost Benefit Analysis/ Using Spreadsheets		Ch. 9-10
7	Linear Programming		Ch. 3, 11	Ch. 1, 2, 5
8	Queuing Assumptions		Ch. 5	Ch. 10
9	Pert/CPM			Ch. 8
10	Final Exam
	Chapters read/total chapters available	5/8	8/15	6/13

For more Information, Contact

Dr Paul Trogen

214C Sam Wilson Hall

East Tennessee State University

Department of Economics, Finance and Urban Studies

Box 70686

Johnson City, TN 37614-0686

(423) 439 - 6631.

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