Comparative Analysis of National Drug Policies - Second Workshop Geneva, 10-13 June 1996 - EDM Research Series No. 025: IV. Preliminary findings: 3. Cross national analysis: What can be learnt at this stage?: 3.1 Relevance of the methods for cross national comparison

Comparative Analysis of National Drug Policies - Second Workshop Geneva, 10-13 June 1996 - EDM Research Series No. 025
(1997; 175 pages)

Table of Contents

Executive summary
I. Introduction
II. Background on the research project
	1. Research questions and objectives of the study
	2. Study approach and research tools
	3. Project past activities
III. Second workshop
	1. Aim and objectives
	2. Participants
	3. Method of work and proceedings
IV. Preliminary findings
	1. The methods: What has been learnt?
		1.1 Methods in context: How did the country teams use the methods?
		1.2 Methods in question: What were the main problems encountered and how to solve them?
		1.3 Relevance of the methods
	2. National drug policies: what has been learnt?
		2.1 Preliminary findings based on NDP indicators
		2.2 Preliminary interpretations based on NDP indicators
		2.3 Preliminary findings based on the political mapping
	3. Cross national analysis: What can be learnt at this stage?
		3.1 Relevance of the methods for cross national comparison
		3.2 Strengths and weaknesses of NDP from a cross national perspective
		3.3 Tentative explanations for cross national variations
	4. Broader capacity building
V. Conclusions of the workshop and follow-up plans
	1. Main outcomes
	2. Next steps
Annex 1: Research proposal
	I. Introduction
	II. The Problem
	III. Research Question and Objectives of Proposed Study
	IV. Study Approach
	V. Anticipated Outcomes
	VI. Methods
	VII. Time Line and Resources
	Selected References
Annex 2: List of participants
Annex 3: Agenda
Annex 4: Questionnaire on NDP performance assessment
Annex 5: Achievements of the national drug policies in the 12 countries
	Bulgaria
	Chad
	Colombia
	Guinea
	India
	Mali
	Philippines
	Sri Lanka
	Thailand
	Viet Nam
	Zambia
	Zimbabwe
Annex 6: Consolidated tables
Other documents in the DAP Research Series

3.1 Relevance of the methods for cross national comparison

The group reviewed the usefulness and relevance of the two methods for cross national comparison.

Cross national comparison: the NDP indicators

The strengths of the indicators for a cross national analysis include:

• A high percentage of the indicators is relevant and useful in low and middle income countries: 80-90% of the indicators have been adopted by all countries included in the research.

• The indicators can be applied in national contexts and measure trends when collected over time.

• Data can be obtained at relatively low cost, compared to the amount of resources - public and private - which are spent on drugs.

• The logical framework (ST/PR/OT) is helpful for the interpretation of findings.

These strengths, associated with the fact that the method provides standardized results, make it possible to identify common problems and solutions and to learn through the comparison of the findings. The structural, background and outcome indicators are more useful for international comparison; for the process indicators, targets should normally be set at national level. To facilitate comparison, the group tried to introduce a rating system for all types of indicators. The same kind of system was used for developing Annex 5. However, additional efforts are needed to find optimal ways to relate indicators results to the overall scores and to weigh indicators, as all have not the same importance.

The group reviewed also some of the limitations of the indicators for cross national comparison, which include:

• the indicators are less easy to apply in countries with poor infrastructure and lack of reliable data;

• it is sometimes difficult to draw causal conclusions as outcomes are often multifactoral; in addition, multiple changes can occur over a single time, which makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions about a single factor.

Cross national comparison: the political mapping

The strengths of political mapping for cross national comparison include:

• the development of systematic political analyses, which can be compared across countries, to help in assessing the effectiveness of different political strategies for the promotion of national drug policies;

• the in-depth analysis of the policy process, which helps in assessing the feasibility of adopting different policy innovations, and the problems of implementation for national drug policies.