2018/08/10 by Laura W. Perna, Kata Orosz, Daniel C. Kent · 1 voice
Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evaluation and Performance Assessment #Policy Transfer and Learning #Public Policy and Administration Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.3102/0002831218788824
openalex publication_date 2018/08/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
This study uses critical discourse analysis to explain how legislators determine the role and contributions of academic researchers in Congressional legislative hearings. The discursive practices that legislators use serve to construct the social identity of academic witnesses, characterize witnesses’ qualifications, solicit information from witnesses, frame comments from witnesses, and amplify and mitigate witness testimony. The findings make visible the ways that legislators use the power of their positions to depict academic witnesses as both experts who offer independent knowledge and experts who validate or confirm a legislator’s preferences and priorities. The results have implications for academics who seek to improve connections between research and policy, and academics who seek to further advance the production of knowledge of federal policymaking processes.