Do research characteristics matter? Policymakers’ interest in evidence and expectations about policy improvement

Abstract Despite the growing demand for evidence-based policymaking, integrating research evidence in policy decisions is not granted and depends on the incorporation of this practice in decision-making processes. We contribute to this debate by focusing on the earlier stage of the policy process: how policymakers form attitudes prior to evidence use. When presented with research regarding their policy area, do policymakers demonstrate an interest in using research evidence? Do they believe that using research evidence will improve policymaking? Do the characteristics of the research evidence at hand matter for their interest and expectation that incorporating evidence will improve a policy? The argument is that policymakers use research evidence characteristics as a heuristic to reduce uncertainty and integrate research evidence into their decisions. We empirically test which characteristics trigger these heuristics by presenting results from a survey experiment with senior-level bureaucrats in Brazil. The main findings are that (1) positive attitudes toward evidence-based policymaking are high, and (2) the characteristics of research evidence influence policymakers’ level of interest in the study, but not their expectations regarding the research evidence’s ability to improve a policy. These results represent a significant contribution to the debate, highlighting the demand-side perspective and how the characteristics of research evidence trigger heuristics and affect attitudes towards evidence use.