Table 1.

Differences (in italics) between the work cycles in the three niches.

	Policy	Practice	Research
STEP 1 Problem recognition
1. Relevance	socially relevant problem, i.e., solving social problems, influenced by political parties	practically relevant problem, i.e. corresponding to the public's or client's requests or needs due to problems that are modifiable and tractable	scientifically relevant problem, i.e. explaining problems and adding to the body of knowledge based on existing theory
2. Policy agenda setting	much influence on agenda setting	limited influence on agenda setting, media pressure	very limited influence on agenda setting
3. Status	bureaucratic status	social status	high intellectual status
STEP 2 Formulation of policy, practice and research
4. Formal power in policy	much influence of small political group on policy formulation	sometimes indirect influence on policy formulation	usually no influence on policy formulation
5. Goals	Insufficient transparency of final goals	limited transparency of final goals, restricted to practice	sufficient transparency of final goals, but restricted to research
6. Evidence	policy-based evidence: legitimacy, acceptability, visibility, immediacy, political salience	practice-based evidence: profitability, applicability, feasibility	research-based evidence: rationality, empirical validity, logical precision
7. Legitimacy	preferred focus on environmental approach, social, physical, economic	focus on individual behavioural approach	insufficient focus on environmental approach
8. Value of theory and practice	theories are partly relevant; practical implementation is relevant	theories are irrelevant; practical implementation is relevant	theories are relevant; practical implementation is often irrelevant
9. Work attitude	work attitude of administrative control and opportunism; some creativity involved	firm, action-directed work attitude; 'quick and dirty'; creativity involved	cautious work attitude; detailed and time consuming; creativity involved
STEP 3 Implementation of policy, practice and research
10. Adjustments during pilot	interim policy adjustments during policy pilot, trial and error approach	interim practical adjustments during pilot, trial and error approach	no interim adjustments, except for qualitative, responsive research
STEP 4 Policy and practice evaluation and research interpretation
11. Lifespan	unpredictable lifespan of work cycle, maximum four years	preferably short lifespan of work cycle	predictable lifespan, depending on research design and public availability, 4 to 10 years
12. External vs. internal validity	need for external validity but policy results often too tentative	need for external validity but practical implementation and contextual factors often undefined	focus on internal validity, insight in what is effective but not in how it can be made effective in real world setting
13. Public accountability	increasing public accountability, mainly financial within own field	limited public accountability; mainly financial within own field	public accountability by publications in highly authoritative journals within own field