A Study of the Alcohol Policy Development Process in the United States: Theory, Goals, and Methods

The project identified factors influencing U.S. federal alcohol policy formation and especially the role of research. It explored the applicability of John Kingdon's “Policy Stream” model involving three interacting policy streams: problem recognition, policy alternatives, and politics. Each stream is necessary but insufficient for policy formation, and coupling streams in “windows of opportunity” is a key to moving legislation. Federal alcohol-policy cases studied included excise taxes, alcohol promotion policies, federal agency reauthorization, and federally mandated health warnings. Data sources included key-informant interviewing with snowball sampling and archival data. We qualitatively analyzed government documents, scientific journals, print and electronic media, trade magazines, and newsletters. Sixty-four in-depth interviews were completed with public health activists, alcohol industry representatives, researchers, journalists, and people in executive and legislative branches of the government. We summarize methods used and challenges overcome, and provides an overview of the project's activities, with results detailed elsewhere in this special issue.