In summary, we gain a perspective on policy analysis by comparing it to related professions. Like policy research, policy analysis employs social science theory and empirical methods to predict the consequences of alternative policies. Like journalism, policy analysis requires skills in information gathering and communication. Policy analysis is neither so narrow in scope as the old public administration nor so broad in scope as classical planning. Yet planners and public administrators who explicitly recognize participation in the political process as professionally legitimate may at times become advice givers to various political actors, thus playing the role of policy analysts.