IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING LEGAL VARIABLES

As part of a larger effort to develop tools and methods for public health law research, PHLR, working in collaboration with CDC’s Office of State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (OSTLTS), ChangeLab Solutions, the Network for Public Health Law, and the Public Health Law Center, surveyed a Delphi panel of experts to define basic standards and practices in the conduct of policy surveillance. Results are reported here in accordance with accepted methods for Delphi studies

In this editorial in JAMA Health Forum, Scott Burris, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, and Alexander Wagenaar present a narrow definition of policy that focuses on its core function and in support of accurate evaluation of those policies and their implementation. The authors define policy as: a governmental or organizational instrument for promoting the general adoption of a desirable behavior or standard. 

The sentinel surveillance of emerging laws and policies (SSELP) project has been developed by the Center for Public Health Law Research (CPHLR) with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a new legal mapping method intended to quickly capture and track emerging laws and legal innovations impacting public health.

Lindsay Cloud, JD, Director of the Policy Surveillance Program joined the Region V Public Health Training Center for its podcast in early 2020. Listen to learn about available tools and resources to support public health professionals and agencies in policy and advocacy work.

In "Measuring Statutory Law and Regulations for Empirical Research,"  Evan Anderson, Sue Thomas, Ryan Treffers, and Alexander C. Wagenaar provide researchers with a practical how-to guide in applying the scientific method to measure the law for quantitative research.