Information Technology's Role in Government Decision-Making
This paper examines the relationship between information technology (IT) and informed decision-making in government and politics. Drawing on examples ranging from the Obama 2008 social media campaign to the Trump campaign's use of predictive analytics and big data, the paper argues that IT tools are essential for collecting, analyzing, and communicating policy-relevant data. The discussion covers quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, information theory as applied to public administration, the use of online reviews as an analogy for civic feedback, and digital platforms such as the White House petition website. The paper concludes that without robust IT adoption, politicians and citizens alike are limited in their ability to develop, assess, and respond to legislation and public need.
- Introduction: IT and Informed Decision-Making: IT enables faster, data-driven government policy decisions
- Social Media and Political Communication: Obama campaign's social media use informed and mobilized voters
- Big Data in Political Campaigns: Trump and Clinton campaigns used predictive analytics and big data
- Quantitative Analysis and Comparative Research: Quantitative tools and data archives support comparative policy analysis
- Civic Engagement Through Digital Platforms: White House petitions let citizens influence political decision-making
- Conclusion: IT is essential for policy development and public awareness
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What makes this paper effective
- Uses concrete, well-known examples — the Obama 2008 campaign and the Trump campaign's data strategy — to ground abstract claims about IT's role in politics.
- Integrates multiple citation types (academic journals, textbooks, trade press) to support its argument across different contexts.
- Bridges the public and private sectors by drawing an analogy between online consumer reviews and government data collection, making the concept accessible.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the use of secondary source synthesis to build a cumulative argument. Rather than relying on a single authority, it weaves together Milakovich and Gordon's public administration framework, Cogburn and Espinoza-Vasquez's social media research, and trade reporting on big data to support a consistent thesis across multiple policy contexts.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a theoretical framing of IT and decision-making, transitions through a commercial analogy (online reviews), then moves into political case studies (Obama social media, Trump big data). It broadens to discuss quantitative and comparative analysis before closing with civic participation tools. The conclusion recaps all threads. This is a topic-survey structure appropriate for an introductory public administration course.
Introduction: IT and Informed Decision-Making
Informed decision-making is an integral part of government. Without it, life-changing policies and laws may be enacted that negatively impact a country, a state, or a municipality due to lack of foresight, lack of statistics, and lack of knowledge on key issues. So how does information technology play a role in informed decision-making? It allows policymakers and politicians to gain a better perspective on issues and to assess the effectiveness of policies by presenting available data in an easy-to-digest manner. For example, information technology enables quantifiable data to be analyzed, with results showing either improvement, no change, or negative change.
According to Milakovich and Gordon, there is an ongoing push for politicians and elected representatives to focus on immediate political decisions rather than on long-term policies or values — such as increased productivity — that require thoughtful insight to develop and assess (p. 431). Because of this, there is a growing need to deliver information to politicians as quickly as possible in an easy-to-absorb manner. That means using information technology to collect data through surveys and applying statistical or qualitative analysis to yield results that can be transformed into simple, easy-to-read information.
An example of this in the private and commercial sector is online reviews. Information technology has made it easy for people to post their opinions online regarding how good products are. Thanks to the convenience of smartphones — which allow people to take pictures and upload them alongside product reviews — consumers are able to make informed decisions quickly rather than spending time searching for evidence of a product's efficacy. As Zhang, Zhao, Cheung, and Lee (2014) note, "along with the growth of Internet and electronic commerce, online consumer reviews have become an important source of information that assists consumers to make purchase decisions" (p. 78).
References
Cogburn, D. L., & Espinoza-Vasquez, F. K. (2011). From networked nominee to networked nation: Examining the impact of Web 2.0 and social media on political participation and civic engagement in the 2008 Obama campaign. Journal of Political Marketing, 10(1–2), 189–213. doi:10.1080/15377857.2011.540224
Harrison, L., & Startin, N. (2013). Political research: An introduction. Routledge.
Milakovich, M. E., & Gordon, G. J. (2013). Public administration in America. Cengage Learning.
Patterson, D. (2017, January 31). Gallery: The future impact of big data in politics. TechRepublic. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/gallery-the-future-impact-of-big-data-in-politics/
Zhang, K. Z., Zhao, S. J., Cheung, C. M., & Lee, M. K. (2014). Examining the influence of online reviews on consumers' decision-making: A heuristic–systematic model. Decision Support Systems, 67, 78–89. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2014.08.005
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