Transcript The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of Public

Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of eparticipation
in Local Climate Change Policy Programs
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the
Development of Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Lourdes Torres, Vicente Pina,
Dpt. of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, Spain
Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of eparticipation
in Local Climate Change Policy Programs
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This paper is part of a broad research project funded by the
European Science Foundation entitled “Comparative
Assessment of EParticipation in the Context of Sustainable
Development / Climate Change” coordinated by Prof. Herbert
Kubicek, ifib, Germany. The research project team is made up
of: Herbert Kubicek and Ralf Cimander (ifib-Bremen,
Germany), Georg Aich, Doris Allhutter and Stephan Strauss
(ITA-Viena, Austria) and Lourdes Torres and Vicente Pina
(University of Zaragoza, Spain).
The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Objective:
To know the opinion of experts in climate saving
programs about the contribution of citizens to eparticipation initiatives: experiences and expectations.
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Research questions:
• 1. Is citizen participation in climate saving of relevance in public
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authorities?
2. What can be expected from citizen participation (applied into
the area of climate saving)?
3. What are the effects on local democracy and
governance style?
This paper aimed to contribute to closing the evaluation gap of
the usefulness of e-participation/citizen participation processes.
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
The Delphi method
• The Delphi method is a systematic means of synthesizing the judgments
of experts (in this case in climate change or environmental protection).
The application of the method follows these steps:
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1) selection of the panel of experts,
2) development of the first round of interviews, through a questionnaire
3) analysis of the first round responses,
4) preparation of the second round and analysis of responses,
5) third round, and the synthesis of the final results.
• The method is designed to elicit and develop individual responses to the
problems posed and to enable the experts to refine their views as the
group’s work progresses in accordance with the assigned task.
• It is believed that the range of responses by the panellists will presumably
decrease and converge toward the “best” response. The value of the
Delphi method rests with the ideas it generates, both those that evoke
consensus and those that do not.
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
The Delphi method
• We are interviewing 15 experts from each country, who
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are in charge of climate saving policy / programmes on
behalf of the municipality and other relevant
organizations (agenda 21 office, consumer organization,
climate change agency, power utility etc.)
• Because the number of respondents is usually small Brockhoff (1975) suggests that, under ideal
circumstances, groups as small as four can perform wellDelphi does not (and are not intended to) produce
statistically significant results.
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Structure of the study:
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• Our questionnaire is a combination of an expert survey with a Delphi part.
• The combined expert survey with Delphi is being carried out at the beginning of
2011 and will be repeated at the end of the project, in order to see whether
experiences made with the citizen-panel has led to changes in the attitudes /
views of the experts concerning citizen participation in the climate saving topic.
• The composition of the combined expert survey with Delphi is as follows:
A. Expert survey part
Experience in citizen participation in climate saving (to be asked once at the
beginning of the project)
B. Delphi part
Expectations on citizen participation in future in particular by use of citizen panels
on climate saving
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Experience in climate change or environmental protection
YES..
Experience in citizen participation
NO..
YES..
General questions….
Experience in citizen participation
online
DELPHI
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Comparison online - offline
participation
Offline
Benefits of citizen participation in CS
for public administration and citizens
Online
Offline
Characteristics of panelists
Online
Satisfaction with participation
activities (objective)
Personal satisfaction with
participation activities
Rather YES..
Success factors
Rather NO..
Barriers from PA view
If lack of interest by citizen is marked, then..
Barriers from citizen view
Other success factors
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The Delphi Questionnaire
• Delphi Questionnaire.doc
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Discussion / Conclusions:
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• In countries studied, participation initiatives started in the second half of 90s
concurrently with the publication of feedback studies about NPM reforms and
the warnings of academics about the doubtful benefits of some NPM reforms
and the decline of public trust in governments derived from such reforms.
• The general level of satisfaction with previous initiatives is high around 75%
• The experts do not find and do not expect noticeable differences between
online and offline participants.
• About one of the key research questions 'what can be expected from citizen
participation programs’, for the experts, most outstanding benefits from
previous participation programs have been the increment of citizen attention on
climate-change effects and the enhance of transparency of the local
government, together with the contribution to testing new modes of
governance
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Discussion / Conclusions:
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• It seems that local governments are more interested in implementing citizen
participation initiatives than in achieving the specific objectives of that
participation, since almost half of them do not evaluate the results.
• The experts do not report differences between onliners and offliners in age, gender,
income and political orientation. Only report differences in education
• There are concerns about the representativeness of results, given that participants
may have higher or special motivation or interest in the topic than the average of
the population, or may be more politically active.
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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of
Public Policies. A Delphi Study
Discussion / Conclusions:
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• The evidence collected gives answer to some research questions underlying in the
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academic literature about e-participation, whether:
1) online tools could offer more opportunities for participation;
2) allow for a greater range of participants; and
3) facilitates ‘better’ participation.
The answer to these three questions seems to be negative or at least doubtful.
• The results say that the use of technology is only an enabler but it is not the solution
for the engagement of citizens in participation processes
• The answers reveal a positive view and a high degree of expectations about the role
that citizen panels can play as a tool to conduct citizen participation in environmental
programs
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Thank you very much
for your attention!