Coming of Age in Policy-Relevant Research

Discusses the contribution that anthropology can make to policy analysis based on the author's experience as an anthropologist with a team of RAND Corporation housing analysts. The differences between traditional anthropological research and research in a policy formation project are outlined under the following topics: (1) focus — policy research eliminates the dilemma of focus that hampers traditional ethnography; (2) timeliness — the anthropologist must respond to the mission orientation of the research and swiftly separate the trivial from the significant; (3) integration — he must understand the conceptual models of other disciplines, communicate with other scientists, and integrate his work with theirs; (4) research arena — the population to be studied usually has been selected before the anthropologist is hired; (5) communication — he must explain complex concepts effectively without the shorthand used in professional journals; (6) reporting — he must learn to use interim reports to relate information to others and to discuss methodology; and (7) concept of client — he must develop a sense of client.