When the Findings Don’t Jive!

3.2 When the Findings Don’t Jive!

Controversies: 3.19, 6.19 Key Words: county agency, study, contract, truthfulness, transparency Case Complexity → Low CD: 4.42 Violating Public Trust CD: 6.1 American Society for Public Administration Code of Ethics

Assume you are the director of the county’s foster care agency and are a strong advocate for preventive services such as counseling and parenting skill education as an alternative to the placement of neglected children in foster homes. Believing that a reputable study of the cost-effectiveness of preventive services would bolster your position, your agency enters into a contract with a university school of social work to conduct a series of evaluation studies. The first study involves a controlled experimental evaluation of county sponsored preventive services. To your dismay, the findings show no evidence that preventive service is a cost effective alternative to placing children in foster care homes. Before making the findings public, the researchers provide an interim report to you for your comments.

Discussion Questions

Dismayed with the findings, what should you do?

1. Consider canceling the contract with the researchers?

2. Prepare a public relations strategy to counter the effects of the study’s results when released?

3. Have the training office prepare a list of deficiencies in the researchers’ study?

4. Is this situation merely a matter of honest differences of policy opinion or is it a matter of policy ethics?

5. From the standpoint of promoting the public interest, what would you do?

Case Assessment

Bonnie Beth Greenball, Associate Director, Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee:

Faced with findings from a university’s school of social work, which did not meet my expectations, I would take several steps before making the fi ndings public. First, I would use this as an opportunity to take stock of the preventive services the agency and others like it provide, spend

40 ◾ Ethics Moments in Government: Cases and Controversies

time with those who conducted the research, and work to understand what might be done to improve the preventive care we provide. The university’s evaluations would likely be helpful for the agency to use in streamlining and refining its mission and strategies.

Once I had thoroughly reviewed the findings and determined whether they could be helpful to me in improving the agency’s func- tioning, I would be in a good position to determine whether the findings themselves were indeed valid. If based on my education and experience, following my thorough analysis of the findings, I did not feel that they were legitimate, I would dig deeper (presuming I had already done basic due diligence research before contracting with the team) into the backgrounds of the research team members to ensure that no one in the team had a personal conflict of interest or bias that would poten- tially result in invalid findings. If I discover any such problem with the researchers or the institution, I would cancel the contract.

If, however, I determine that the findings are legitimate, I would begin to put in place certain changes to reposition the agency to better meet the needs of its client base. Once I felt confident that

I had adequately addressed the weaknesses in the preventive care strategy that may have resulted in the research team’s findings, I would release them to the public in a carefully crafted press release. Although I would hold fast to my belief of the significance of preven- tive care and would advise that the agency continue to advocate for

a preventive care strategy, I would emphasize that the agency plans to utilize these findings to improve its standard of care. I may even choose to hold a press conference to place the findings in context and to explain to the public how the agency intends to respond to them. Th roughout the press conference and in any statements made to the public or the press, I would emphasize that the most important func- tion of the agency is to serve the best interests of the children, and that we will utilize all of our resources, including these findings, to achieve that aim.

Th omas Walkington, DPA, Strategic Management Coordinator, Research, Planning, and Development, Business Intelligence Program, Hennepin County, Minnesota:

I would stay the course. Since this is the “first” in a series of evalua- tion studies, I would move forward with the agreed upon contract. I would also do a review of the study that includes key stakeholders of the organization and pose a series of questions related to the results of the study: What are the current practices? How are they interpreted? What was the unit of analysis for the study? In other words, I would want to understand the methodology of the study. Was it appropriate

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to this situation? If so, and the findings are valid, what are the gaps identified in the study relative to the practices in place? What can be done differently?

Note that this is the first in a series of studies and that the results of this study will be considered in light of findings in future studies, at which time appropriate action will be taken to address the findings of the study in total.