PPA 670 Sample Exam


1. "Rightsizing" is the ongoing gathering of data on citizens' service needs, desires, and ability to pay, coupled with a continuous assessment of data about government's constantly improving service delivery capabilities. With this information, government resources can be strategically adjusted, aligned, and allocated to meet the service needs and desires of citizens. Rightsizing is anticipatory, strategic, and prospective. You are asked to develop an analysis for "right-sizing" for a medium-sized city.: A. Write out the problem statement; B. What information would you gather?; C. What monitoring system would you create?


2. You are a policy analyst in a city where a card club/casino is being proposed. The city has become polarized over the thought of the project, which has not yet been submitted to the city council.: A. What information would you seek, to assist the city manager and the city council in grappling with this issue?; B. What techniques would you employ?; C. What criteria would your analysis have to address?

3. Your city wants to hire a consulting firm to conduct an analysis of what can be done with an old Navy base that is being turned over to the city. One of the city councillors has hinted that he wants to hire a firm that will support whatever position the city wants to take.: A. How will you set up and define the criteria for evaluating proposals to conduct the analysis that are submitted by different firms?; B. What approach will you take to make sure that the information submitted in the proposals is valid?

4. Concern over past bombing incidents in New York and Oklahoma City was recently heightened in a major city when several pipe bombs exploded and several more were found at City Hall just before detonation. To increase security at city hall and restrict access to citizens and vendors will increase the cost of government and reduce the quality of services, but to ignore the threat leaves the city open to lawsuits and a bombing incident.: A. Define the problem for the city.; B. Define the city's objectives; C. Describe as many alternatives as you can which could meet the city's objectives

5. A small but wealthy county in Southern California has declared bankruptcy. It has proposed four alternatives for getting out of its difficulties, including layoffs, selling assets, suing those at fault, and petitioning the state for relief. It refuses to consider raising taxes. If you were a policy analyst for the state legislature, what would you do?: A. Write a complete problem statement; B. Identify the objectives; C. Describe the criteria you would use; D. Develop operational definitions for any measures you would use

6. To know whether objectives are being achieved, one must know what they are supposed to be. Yet the assumption that objectives are known, clear, and consistent can be at variance from experience. Public policy objectives are often multiple, conflicting, and vague.: A. Why are objectives frequently at odds with the requirements of policy analysis?; B. How can objectives be made more amenable to the needs of analysis?

7. Some authorities have said that the rationale for policy analysis may be its ruin: analysis is the art of avoiding experience by imagining what might happen if things worked this way or that. This leads the policy analyst to be tempted to treat citizens as objects. By depriving people of autonomy in thought, it is possible to deny them citizenship in action.: A. Describe what the above commentary is trying to say.; B. How can policy analysis promote greater citizen participation and autonomy?

8. Policy analysts, when asked to solve a problem, are likely to reformulate it, saying, "this problem cannot be solved within our limitations, but here is one like it that we can do something about." By altering the means, the ends are altered, whether that is acknowledged or not.: A. What is the role of the policy analyst in policy creation?; B. What can the analyst do to minimize biases in policy analysis?; C. How can an analyst help a client to define a problem and objectives, yet remain aloof?

9. The San Diego/Tijuana border crossing has more traffic than any other international border in the world, about 42 million persons per year. Users include commuters, tourists, shoppers, students, businesses, patients, and educators, as well as smugglers and criminals from both sides. The recent crackdown on the latter has led to longer waits for the former and led to rising international tensions, as well as economic problems for the border economy. You are a member of the group "Open Border Task Force.": A. Define the problem as seen by your group; B. Write the objectives for addressing this problem; C. What criteria and measures would you select?

10. A policy analyst may circumvent a number of supervisors to reach a sympathetic ear, or contact a friend several levels down for data, avoiding the effects of organizational structure. While such tactics can be effective, they may have high personal costs in terms of the analyst being marked as disloyal, or being denied access in the future.: A. In general, is this tactic of avoiding the effects of organizational structure defensible? Why or why not?; B. State and justify what strategies you would recommend to an analyst in a rigid organization who is faced with a tight schedule for completion of an analytical study.