Social research can be used as basic data for the formulation of policy and for estimating the impact of anticipated policy. This paper explains to what extent research has been made an impact on the policy-making process and supporting or legitimating the existing policy in Korea?
For this purpose, this paper begins by understanding policy style of Korea. According to Richardson’s policy style, the policy style of Korea might be activist style - the role of the Korean government is rather active and the government in the policy process is willing to impose policy change in the face of opposition from organized interest groups.
The empiricist, engineering and enlightenment models are widely used to explain the relationship between research and policy-making; Why has the research in the health policy process been underused? Some problems of the relationship between research and policy process - the under-use of research on health policy - are discussed on the basis of the enlightenment model. First, there is an explanation that highlights organizational gap; that is, difference in the way in which research and policy are organized. This explanation seems to be valid from two points of view; Korea is a very rapidly changing society and government is still active in its approach to problem solving. The second kind of explanation sees the gap between researchers and policy-makers in cultural rather than organizational terms. Another explanation is discovered both in the aim of research and in the cultural context of the relationship doctor and patient in Korea.
In this paper, three explanations for the under-utilization of research are concerned with the organizational and cultural gap between the researcher and the policy-maker, and two further explanations are concerned with both the nature of research itself and the cultural context of the relationship doctor and patient in Korea. The change of policy style to the reactive approach to the problem solving and consensus relationship with related interested groups may result in the increased use of evidence-based research that provides knowledge that can be utilized by policy-makers.
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