©BRAINBARTER EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
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HS 3400 Midterm Exam Questions With
Correct Answers
What is policy - answer✔broad statement of the goals, objectives, and means that create the
framework for activity. Often takes the form of explicit written documents, but may also be
implicit or unwritten
The policy process - answer✔the way in which policies are initiated, formulated, developed,
negotiated, communicated, implemented and evaluated
Public policy - answer✔government policy or policies of government agencies
Policy decisions try to balance (3) - answer✔1. Individualism
2. collectivism
3. policy goals
Individualism - answer✔- personal independence
- autonomy
- liberty
Collectivism - answer✔- group norms
1|Page
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- common good
- social justice
- social support
Policy goals - answer✔- security
- liberty
- equity
- efficiency
potentially in conflict with each other and prone to different interpretations
What is policy about - answer✔making choices
Policy maker's endgoal - answer✔Most morally correct decision
3 main components of policy - answer✔1. structures
2. process
3. outcomes
Policy is... - answer✔- everywhere
- not necessarily written down
- can be no decision
- intent doesn't always = results
2|Page
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
public policy - answer✔a course of action or inaction CHOSEN by public authorities
- adresses a given problem
- anchored in a set of beliefs about the best way to achieve those goals
________________ is a sub-set of public policy - answer✔health policy
- who has power and who does not have it to influence policy and outcomes? who benefits and
who does not?
policy can be thought of as _____________ and also _______________ and
_________________ - answer✔intent, understanding, and process
- understanding the evidence that guides policy and the beliefs that guide what we do/not do
Focusing events - answer✔episodes/experiences that catapult issues to the fore
- draws attention to a problem that needs fixing
- create new policy or bring attention to existing policy and change it
We can sort policy into two large buckets - answer✔1. Consensus ( how long policy took to
create, who was involved, cost. aka. nuts and bolts lens)
2. Conflict/critical (societal dimensions, ppl are different, power not equal. aka. socio-cultural-
economic lens)
3|Page
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- both assume policy choices are based on rational consideration of alternatives
positivism - answer✔the belief that knowledge should be derived from scientific observation
Structural Functionalism - answer✔apply positivist notions of knowledge and methodology
- views society as an organism, a system of parts whose function together creates overall
societal effectiveness
eg. herd immunity
Interpretivism - answer✔- critique on positivism
- hermeneutics: how individuals understand themselves through shared systems of meaning
eg. BMI says an athlete is overweight
Critical Theory - answer✔- structures and processes that are usually hidden and ignored by
positivists
- who has the power to bring about social and political change
- critique and transformation of society as a whole
- considers haves and have-nots in society
Martsolf and Thomas - answer✔positions on key public policy issues are driven by largely
implicit and unarticulated philosophical presuppositions that guide individuals notions of the
nature of government, individuals moral obligation to each other, how society addresses
quality of life, and what it means to be a community.
4|Page
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
HS 3400 Midterm Exam Questions With
Correct Answers
What is policy - answer✔broad statement of the goals, objectives, and means that create the
framework for activity. Often takes the form of explicit written documents, but may also be
implicit or unwritten
The policy process - answer✔the way in which policies are initiated, formulated, developed,
negotiated, communicated, implemented and evaluated
Public policy - answer✔government policy or policies of government agencies
Policy decisions try to balance (3) - answer✔1. Individualism
2. collectivism
3. policy goals
Individualism - answer✔- personal independence
- autonomy
- liberty
Collectivism - answer✔- group norms
1|Page
, ©BRAINBARTER EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- common good
- social justice
- social support
Policy goals - answer✔- security
- liberty
- equity
- efficiency
potentially in conflict with each other and prone to different interpretations
What is policy about - answer✔making choices
Policy maker's endgoal - answer✔Most morally correct decision
3 main components of policy - answer✔1. structures
2. process
3. outcomes
Policy is... - answer✔- everywhere
- not necessarily written down
- can be no decision
- intent doesn't always = results
2|Page
, ©BRAINBARTER EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
public policy - answer✔a course of action or inaction CHOSEN by public authorities
- adresses a given problem
- anchored in a set of beliefs about the best way to achieve those goals
________________ is a sub-set of public policy - answer✔health policy
- who has power and who does not have it to influence policy and outcomes? who benefits and
who does not?
policy can be thought of as _____________ and also _______________ and
_________________ - answer✔intent, understanding, and process
- understanding the evidence that guides policy and the beliefs that guide what we do/not do
Focusing events - answer✔episodes/experiences that catapult issues to the fore
- draws attention to a problem that needs fixing
- create new policy or bring attention to existing policy and change it
We can sort policy into two large buckets - answer✔1. Consensus ( how long policy took to
create, who was involved, cost. aka. nuts and bolts lens)
2. Conflict/critical (societal dimensions, ppl are different, power not equal. aka. socio-cultural-
economic lens)
3|Page
, ©BRAINBARTER EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- both assume policy choices are based on rational consideration of alternatives
positivism - answer✔the belief that knowledge should be derived from scientific observation
Structural Functionalism - answer✔apply positivist notions of knowledge and methodology
- views society as an organism, a system of parts whose function together creates overall
societal effectiveness
eg. herd immunity
Interpretivism - answer✔- critique on positivism
- hermeneutics: how individuals understand themselves through shared systems of meaning
eg. BMI says an athlete is overweight
Critical Theory - answer✔- structures and processes that are usually hidden and ignored by
positivists
- who has the power to bring about social and political change
- critique and transformation of society as a whole
- considers haves and have-nots in society
Martsolf and Thomas - answer✔positions on key public policy issues are driven by largely
implicit and unarticulated philosophical presuppositions that guide individuals notions of the
nature of government, individuals moral obligation to each other, how society addresses
quality of life, and what it means to be a community.
4|Page
