NCJ Number
137273
Date Published
1992
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This report describes the design of a seminar game focusing on local drug policy and the lessons learned from two pilot runs of the games conducted in RAND's Drug Policy Research Center.
Abstract
Seminary gaming is a qualitative research methodology used to develop policy options and explore their potential consequences. The participants are assigned to various teams and propose future policy based on a scenario provided by a control team. The process is repeated several times to develop a game. The eventual purpose in developing the game is to provide policymakers with an exercise that reveals the complex interrelationships of drug policy and that provides an appropriate forum in which to present various research results. The game helps researchers to better understand the problems of policymakers and policymakers to consider the consequences of policies that appear attractive on the surface and to temporarily escape from personal animosities and organizational complications that interfere with their problem-solving efforts on their jobs. The game also reveals that neither agreement nor cooperation necessarily result from having the same view of the drug problem and that policymaking is the art of continuously balancing tradeoffs. Figures and 15 references