Does Evidence Matter? An Analysis of Evidence Use in Performance-Funding Policy Design

This paper reports on an analysis, using a comparative case study design, of the degree to which policy actors use evidence in designing performance-funding policies in Colorado and Texas. The analysis reveals that features of demanders of information—including their prior exposure to research, their attitudes toward evidence, and, in the case of campus representatives, their institutions' financial resources—as well as characteristics of the evidence itself, particularly its definitiveness and perceived relevance, were critical for fostering evidence use. The interaction between suppliers and demanders also facilitated but was not a necessary condition for evidence use.