公共政策研究人员和学生认识到解决社会问题的方法必须得到有关决策者的批准。这些政策参与者可以在立法机关，行政部门或法院中，它们通常位于监管和行政机构内部，它们通常涉及地方，州，国家和国际参与者，并且他们可能是激发公众活力的成员或科学，技术或其他领域的专家。公共政策的研究从根本上讲是多学科的，因为政策问题具有经济，伦理，政治，法律以及科学技术等方面。如果它忽略了宪法和成文法，行政法规和行政法规，即使是对政策问题（例如核废料存储，基因治疗，智能电网监控，城市回收或互联网监管）的最科学逻辑和技术上有效的回答，也会
Public policy researchers and students recognize that solutions to society's problems must be approved by relevant decision makers. These policy actors can be in legislatures, executive branches, or the courts, they often are located inside regulatory and administrative agencies, they often involve a combination of local, state, national, and international actors, and they might be energized members of the public or experts in science, technology, or other fields. The study of public policy is fundamentally multidisciplinary because policy problems have economic, ethical, political, legal, and often scientific and technological dimensions. Even the most scientifically logical and technologically efficient answer to a policy problem such as nuclear waste storage, genetic therapy, smart grid monitoring, urban recycling, or internet regulation will fail if it ignores constitutional and statutory law, administrative and judicial procedures, the inclusion of relevant stakeholders, and the political ideals and goals of diverse participants.