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Dissertation Information for Alice Robbin

NAME:
- Alice Robbin
- (Alias) Alice R. Robbin

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Political Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA) (1984)

ADVISORS:
- Murray J. Edelman

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF DECISIONMAKING: IMPLEMENTING INFORMATION POLICY IN STATE HEALTH AND WELFARE AGENCIES

Abstract: "This study is a set of essays on how administrators and staff in state health and social welfare agencies interpreted national and state information policies. The focus was on the dilemmas that administrators face in implementing ambiguous, abstract, and contradictory public policy on information collection, management, and use, particularly laws on privacy, confidentiality, and records release to carry out social research. The goal was to understand the implementation of interdependent national and state information and health and social welfare policies from the perspective of the administrator.

The study was guided by a theoretical framework which linked the analysis of public policy to theories of complex organizations and individual behavioral choice. Both phenomenological and positivist theories were applied to the research investigation. A four-stage sampling procedure was employed, and one hundred and sixty administrators and staff in health and welfare agencies in nine states were interviewed during 1981 and 1982.

Based on the grounded theory approach that was taken, three general propositions were derived from the data. (I) The boundaries of health and social welfare agencies are permeated by the political environment. There is variation in the degree of permeation, and the extent to which permeation occurs influences decisions on releasing records. (II) The task environment is the most important influence on whether records are released. It mediates perceptions of the political process outside the agency, defines status and role relationships, communicates who are friends and adversaries, and exercises a critical influence on what constitutes an acceptable way to conduct decisionmaking. The extent to which the task environment supports the release of records for research determines whether administrators are predisposed to releasing records. Demographic characteristics minimally influence this predisposition. (III) Uncertainty engenders a search for tried and true solutions which conform to institutional rules and accepted practices of decisionmaking. Choice is not only a function of the administrator's limited information processing capability, but also of the social situation. The 'satisficing' practice impedes a search for creative solutions, and personal preferences and biases are part of the ""algorithm"" of decisionmaking."

MPACT Scores for Alice Robbin

A = 1
C = 2
A+C = 3
T = 1
G = 1
W = 1
TD = 1
TA = 0
calculated 2012-07-30 13:30:01

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