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Meghani, Z. And Kuzma, J. Re-Conceptualizing Objectivity Assessment

¶ … Meghani, Z. And Kuzma, J. Re-Conceptualizing Objectivity to Address the Regulatory Agency-Industry "Revolving Door" Problem. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Assessment of Model Article

What about this article do you wish to emulate?

In evaluating Mghani and Kuzma (2010), I wish to emulate their clear straightforward style and objective methodology. The article lays out an evidence base of how: a) the presence of former key industry personnel on review boards could adversely impact the public's confidence in regulatory decisions about new technology products, including agrifood biotechnologies; b) the "revolving door" may result in policy decisions about technologies that are biased in favor of industry interests; and c) the "revolving door" virtually guarantees industry a voice in the policy-making process, even though other stakeholders have no assurance that their concerns will be addressed by regulatory agencies. Furthermore the paper presents a plan of action based on regulatory entities rejecting the traditional notion of objectivity. That will ensure that a heterogeneous group of stakeholders is at the decision-making table. The fair representation of interests of different constituencies in the review process could do much to inspire warranted public confidence in regulatory protocols and decisions.

How do you see the structure of the article as a model?

Most social research originates from some general problem or question. Mghani and Kuzma (2010) can serve as a model for social research papers...

Consequently, the question is narrowed down to a more specific research question that to be address. The research question is often stated in the context of some theory that has been advanced to address the problem. For instance, the theory that ongoing support services are needed to assure that the newly employed remain employed. The research question is the central issue being addressed in the study and is often phrased in the language of theory. For example in my own research examining the origins of the Revolving Door phenomenon in federal government, as well as how the Revolving Door has influenced federal government actions, the investigation was focused through a qualitative examination of primary documents in the form of archival reports from various government agencies and documents in the form of published reports from the media and watchdog organizations
Comment on what you find useful about how the argument is presented in this article.

I found Mghani and Kuzma's discussion of objectivity to be useful for my own research. They highlight how the current system of stakeholder elicitation and interviews to rate the performance of GEOs oversight in the U.S. suggests that there are numerous conflicts of interest in the system, transparency is low, public input in decision-making is minimal, and more stakeholder engagement is needed in the risk analysis process. One industry representative in this study called for "early and broad stakeholder…

Sources used in this document:
The methodology of this paper allowed for an analysis of some of the background assumptions that mediate the relationship between hypotheses and evidence in light of normative commitments. Given that the relationship between hypotheses and data is mediated by background assumptions that might be normatively loaded, it should not be assumed that the theories of risk assessment that the FDA uses to make its policies. This methodology however allowed them to have more confidence in their policy suggestions.

Finally, briefly explain how you think this article and your article will be different.

My own article will differ from Mghani and Kuzma (2010) in that a qualitative examination of primary documents will be conducted in the form of archival reports from various government agencies and secondary documents in the form of published reports from the media and watchdog organizations. The Revolving Door phenomenon has not only been a persistent issue in politics in recent decades, but has also been one that has causes Administrations problems with credibility in making decisions. Therefore, in order to collect the data for this investigation, publicly available documents from the Federal government, as well as other organizations that collect information about potential conflicts of interest among Federal employees. The plan is to compile a sample of information about individual employees of the Executive Branch with regards to whether they are working for organizations that are responsible for overseeing the companies for which they worked immediately before taking their political positions. It is recognized that the amount of time and other resources for this investigation are limited, so it is expected that the sample that is obtained will be quite small. However, the goal is to obtain information from across several agencies so that a determination can be made as to whether the revolving phenomenon is widespread.
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