about to read is – The Best We Can Do By Way of Evidence-Based Policy:
A Realist in One Sense of the Term Perspective.
Books about research methods, for that is what this is, can be a mite dry, so I
want to begin with the emotion of it all. You have been charged with synthesizing
all the evidence relevant to Policy X. What does it actually feel like to conduct the
review?
To find out I recommend that you trace the following steps. Take a flight to
Venice and please try to arrive around one hour before dusk. Take a short walk to
the harbour and board a water taxi. This is the rather functional name given to the
silky, mahogany launch that will carry you to the island. I’m afraid that you and
your partner must travel without fellow passengers, so the fare will be considerably
more than your no-frills plane ticket. But, trust me, I have to capture the atmosphere
perfectly. You are now speeding across the lagoon and before you, beneath
the ochre sky, stands the black profile of Venice. Francesco, the skipper, who will
be just as sleek as his craft, will enter the Canale Grande from the west. Now you
are there, gliding along its entire sweep. The bustle of the day is over and surely by
now you are getting the feeling. You are Canaletto. You are Titian. You are
Veronese. Or, perhaps, you are Byron or Browning. Just maybe, you are Casanova.