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Promoting policy evaluation across government: The contribution of the OECD recommendation to public policy evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-03-11 Claire Salama, Silvia Picalarga
Policy evaluation is now recognised by many governments as fundamental to ensuring that policies are informed by quality evidence. Nevertheless, the practice of policy evaluation is still difficult to systematise inside governments. Building on more than 20 years of work on this topic, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Recommendation on Public Policy Evaluation, adopted in
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Evaluation blogs, podcasts, and webinars in 2023: A roundup review Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-03-11 Thomas Aston
This is a review and roundup of evaluation blogs, podcasts, and webinars in 2023 with a personal commentary on the trends which emerged during the period. To write this, I reviewed hundreds of blogs and dozens of podcasts and webinars. The roundup is organized around key trends that emerged throughout the year: (1) evaluators’ responses to Artificial Intelligence; (2) decolonizing evaluation; (3) the
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How evaluation is understood and practised in the European Parliament Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Meenakshi Fernandes, Katharina Eisele, Irmgard Anglmayer
Over the past 10 years, the European Parliament has stepped up its use of evaluation to inform its law-making activities. This work has been guided in large part by the Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making signed in 2016 by the European Parliament, the European Commission (which is the EU executive organ) and the Council of the European Union (representing the EU Member States). This
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Planetary health: Creating rapid impact assessment tools Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-01-31 Astrid Brousselle, Megan Curren, Bronwyn Dunbar, James McDavid, Rik Logtenberg, Tara Ney
Addressing current environmental, social, health, and democratic challenges requires projects and evaluations to be conceptualized differently. This article proposes a pathway to creating rapid impact assessment tools that consider the dimensions that matter the most to ensure positive impacts for a thriving future. This work is based on three premises for evaluation practice, which needs to: contribute
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Developing middle-range theories within a realist evaluation of how health committees support community capacity for health Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Brynne Gilmore, Jessica Power, Nazarius Tumwesigye, Henry Mollel, Eilish McAuliffe, Frédérique Vallières
Health committees link formalised health services and the community. However, ‘how, why, and for whom’ health committees work warrants further exploration. This article presents the development of a middle-range theory for how health committees work for building community capacity for health. Resulting programme theories from a realist evaluation in Uganda were synthesised for demi-regularities and
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A graphical method for causal program attribution in theory-based evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Rodney Schmidt
We describe a simple yet rigorous graphical method for eliminating bias in theory-based program evaluation. The method is an application to social and international development program evaluation of the graphical causal models used to test medical treatments. We implement a graphical causal model for the World Bank’s well-known Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Project. We show how to construct the graphical
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Using co-creation to address monitoring and evaluation challenges: The experience of South Africa’s evaluation hackathon Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Eleanor Hazell, Ian Goldman, Babette Rabie, Jen Norins, Takunda Chirau, Taruna Gupta
In 2021, the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association facilitated an evaluation hackathon that engaged diverse stakeholders in co-creation processes to develop practical solutions to address complex problems facing the monitoring and evaluation sector. The event catalysed broad-based ownership and enabled the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association to coordinate the creative
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Challenges and strategies for implementers and evaluators working in conflict settings Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-05-11 Laura Bond, Elizabeth K. Klein, Emily F. Gates
Practitioners implementing and evaluating humanitarian programs in conflict zones face unique challenges requiring context-sensitive guidance. Conflict zones—geographical areas with militarized and...
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Understanding the theoretical underpinnings of preventative early parenting interventions: A theory-based evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Gráinne Hickey, Sinead McGilloway, Yvonne Leckey, Tracey Bywater, Michael Donnelly
Early parenting programmes which promote nurturing care for children aged 0–3 years are popular in community-based primary health care settings. However, little research has explored the causal and...
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DOME: A mixed-method evaluation of the impacts of complex programmes against educational poverty Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-04-07 Gabriele Tomei
Developmental Outcome Monitoring and Evaluation (DOME) is a mixed and participatory method for the impact assessment of complex and innovative programmes. It has been developed and is being applied...
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Can we use deliberation to change evaluation systems? How an advisory group contributed to policy change Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-03-06 Peter Dahler-Larsen
One of the most dominant trends in the field of evaluation in recent years is the institutionalization of evaluation under headlines such as “evaluation culture,” “evaluation policy,” and “evaluati...
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How can climate change and its interaction with other compounding risks be considered in evaluation? Experiences from Vietnam Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-02-28 Steven Lam, Warren Dodd, Hung Nguyen-Viet, Fred Unger, Trang T. H. Le, Sinh Dang-Xuan, Kelly Skinner, Andrew Papadopoulos, Sherilee L. Harper
While evaluations play a critical role in accounting for and learning from context, it is unclear how evaluations can take account of climate change. Our objective was to explore how climate change...
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The use of mediation analysis in evaluation of complex health interventions Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Deborah D. DiLiberto, Charles Opondo, Sarah G. Staedke, Clare I. R. Chandler, Elizabeth Allen
This article presents an application of the causal inference approach to mediation analysis using the example of a complex intervention that aimed to improve the quality of care at health centres i...
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Combining process tracing and synthetic control method: Bridging two ways of making causal inference in evaluation research Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-12-05 Federico Podestà
This article discusses potential ways of combining two methods of evaluation in single-case studies: the synthetic control method and the process tracing method. Both are designed to examine certai...
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Evaluating the impact of business coaching programmes by taking perceptions seriously Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-11-27 Giel Ton, Fédes van Rijn, Haki Pamuk
The paper addresses the challenges of evaluating the impact of business coaching programmes with a varied portfolio of firms working across sectors and countries. Observable indicators of changes i...
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Don’t you forget about me: Independence of evaluations from the perspective of US evaluation clients—An exploratory study Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-11-26 Fabienne Helen Schmidli, Lyn Ellen Pleger, Susanne Hadorn
Policy evaluation literature has stressed the importance of independence of evaluations to guarantee objective evidence collection. The evaluator–client relationship is critical in this respect, si...
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Pivoting to online: The benefits, challenges and possibilities for international programme evaluations Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-11-15 Lee John Henley, Nicky Stanley-Clarke, Anuradha Acharya, Smriti Khadka, Asa Olsson
Global South non-government organizations rely on international funding and aid for continued service delivery. Service evaluation plays a significant role in ensuring compliance and ongoing servic...
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Why is impact measurement abandoned in practice? Evidence use in evaluation and contracting for five European Social Impact Bonds Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-11-15 Debra Hevenstone, Alec Fraser, Lukas Hobi, Gemma Geuke
Despite broad consensus on the importance of measuring “impact,” the term is not always understood as estimating counterfactual and causal estimates. We examine a type of public sector financing, “...
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Ethics of evaluation for socio-ecological transformation: Case-based critical systems analysis of motivation, power, expertise, and legitimacy Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-10-25 Emily F. Gates, Glenn Page, Juan Manuel Crespo, Mauricio Nuñez Oporto, Juliana Bohórquez
Evaluation that supports social, ecological, and governance systems change and transformation raises ethical questions about what and whose worldviews do and should ground evaluative processes. Thi...
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Evaluating local system change using a comparative maturity matrix Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-27 Mike Coldwell, Sarah Pearson, Ian Wilson
This article focuses on the evaluation of the Children’s Community programme, addressing the question: how can evaluators effectively address complex place-based system change initiatives, particul...
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Systems thinking concepts within a collaborative program evaluation methodology: The Hermes Program Evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-18 Maria Alejandra Torres-Cuello, Luis Arturo Pinzon-Salcedo
There has been a growing interest in introducing systems thinking ideas in the program evaluation field over the last decades. Most of these efforts have supported the practice of evaluation, rathe...
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Using digital technology to enhance youth participatory evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-15 Tze-Chang Liu
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the challenges encountered in youth participatory evaluation and how digital technology may assist in overcoming these challenges. The study explores the mea...
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Conducting focus groups in realist evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-15 Ana Manzano
Focus groups are valuable tools for evaluators to help stakeholders to clarify programme theories. In 1987, R.K. Merton, often attributed with the birth of focus groups, wrote about how these were ...
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Evaluation through narratives: A practical case of Participatory Narrative Inquiry in women empowerment evaluation in Niger Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-10 Emanuele Zucchini, Michael Carbon, Christine Bosch, Fabrizio Felloni
This study explores the use of Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) in evaluating development interventions by contributing to the debate of using participatory narrative methods. Stories on perso...
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Including multiple perspectives in participatory multi-criteria analysis: A framework for investigation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-09 Marco Dean
Over the past few decades, a number of participatory multi-criteria analysis methods, combining deliberative procedures with multiple decision criteria assessment techniques, have been developed to...
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Developing a theory of change methodology to support the evaluation of place-based systems change interventions to support child and adolescent mental health and well-being Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-09-04 Robyn Doherty, Neil Quinn, Abigail Colson, Amy Tucker, Julie Cameron
Over the past few years, levels of mental health problems among children and adolescents have risen alongside an increased demand for services, which has driven the demand for a transformative syst...
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Editorial Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-08-13 Elliot Stern
Anders Hanberger points out that two perspectives on power and evaluation – that is power in evaluation and the power of evaluation – have traditionally been treated separately. He argues that power ‘in the evaluation process’ and the power of evaluation ‘in public policy and democratic governance’ are interrelated. According to the author, literature suggests that power is inevitably ‘a multifaceted
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Accountability versus learning in aid evaluation: A practice-oriented exploration of persistent dilemmas Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-08-13 Hilde Reinertsen, Kristian Bjørkdahl, Desmond McNeill
Learning and accountability are customarily defined as ‘the dual purpose’ of development aid evaluation, yet this notion is contested. Based on an overview of the existing literature, we identify f...
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Power in and of evaluation—A framework of analysis Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-07-20 Anders Hanberger
This article develops a framework for enhancing understanding and exploring both how power manifests in the evaluation process, and the power of evaluation in relation to public policy and democratic governance. Power is conceived as a multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon that manifests, permeates, and affects evaluation in many ways. The article demonstrates how the framework can be applied to an evaluation
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Eliciting stories of gender-transformative change: Investigating the effectiveness of question prompt formulations in qualitative gender assessments Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-07-20 Jess MacArthur, Naomi Carrard, Toeur Veasna, Tyler Kozole, Juliet Willetts
Evaluations of gender equality initiatives in development programmes traditionally assess cognitive dimensions such as knowledge, attitudes, and awareness; and often rely solely on women’s perspect...
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A theory-based approach to designing interventions for Planetary Health Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Astrid Brousselle, Jim McDavid, Megan Curren, Rik Logtenberg, Bronwyn Dunbar, Tara Ney
The current existential crises crystallize an urgent need for us all to contribute to meeting international environmental and social commitments. The message is clear: we need to take action. However, one of the challenges for decision-makers leading the transition is the dearth of practical tools and approaches available. Even in our field, evaluations are still based on practices which systematically
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Speaking truth to power: Exploring a Ministry’s evaluation department through evaluators’ and policymakers’ eyes Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Lotte Levelt, Nicky Pouw
‘Evidence-based’ development policy has caused impact evaluations to prioritise accountability over addressing processual learning questions. Moreover, evaluation scholarship is dominated by surveys, whereas qualitative research remains scant. This article traces one particular evaluation, within the independent Evaluation Department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It asks, ‘How do evaluators
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A model for effective partnership working to support programme evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-05-04 Judith F. Fynn, Karen Milton, Wendy Hardeman, Andy P. Jones
The use of multi-agency partnerships, including research-practice partnerships, to facilitate the development, implementation and evaluation of public health interventions has expanded in recent years. However, gaps remain in the understanding of influences on partnership working, and their capacity to facilitate and use evaluation, as well as the characteristics which lead to partnership effectiveness
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Editorial Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-28 Elliot Stern
This issue begins with a transcribed speech given by Hans Bruyninckx Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) to the European Evaluation Society’s online conference held in October 2021. We have published many articles now on the challenges for evaluators as a result of the environmental, sustainability and climate-related crises humanity faces. A call by the Executive Director of
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Improving a framework for evaluating participatory science Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-27 Cobi Calyx, Summer May Finlay
This article proposes improvements to an open framework for evaluating participatory science, including projects framed as citizen science. An original proposed framework, while valuable in its comprehensiveness, used problematic language that makes it unworkable in many international contexts. In countries like Australia where Indigenous data sovereignty matters profoundly, language about ‘target
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Choosing a qualitative comparative analysis solution in multi-method impact evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-19 Seweryn Krupnik, Maciej Koniewski
Qualitative comparative analysis is increasingly popular as a methodological option in the evaluator’s toolkit. However, evaluators who are willing to apply it face inconsistent suggestions regarding the choice of the ‘solution term’. These inconsistent suggestions reflect a current broad debate among proponents of two approaches to qualitative comparative analysis. The first approach focuses on substantial
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Grounding evaluation capacity development in systems theory Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-05 Sarah D. Klier, Raphael J. Nawrotzki, Nataly Salas-Rodríguez, Sven Harten, Charles B. Keating, Polinpapilinho F. Katina
While “systemic thinking” is popular in the context of capacity development and evaluation, there is currently a lack of understanding about the benefits to employing systems theory in evaluation capacity development. Systems theory provides a useful orientation to the work involved in complex systems (e.g. national evaluation systems). This article illustrates how evaluation capacity development practitioners
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Methodological reflections on using qualitative research to explore the causal mechanisms of complex health interventions Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-02 Chris Bonell, Emily Warren, GJ Melendez-Torres
We reflect on how qualitative research can be used to develop or refine theories about how the mechanisms triggered by intervention enactment might generate outcomes, referring to examples from a ‘realist trial’ of a whole-school health intervention. Qualitative research can explore mechanisms directly, by asking participants how they think interventions work, or indirectly, by exploring participant
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New challenges for the evaluation community: Impactful contributions in times of urgency Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-01 Hans Bruyninckx
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Contribution of practical wisdom to resolving ethical issues Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-04-01 Marthe Hurteau, Caroline Gagnon
Evaluators often find themselves on ‘rough ground’ as they try to do the right thing and do it well. They face unanticipated ethical issues requiring decisions that are subtle and nuanced, and they do not always find the expected guidance in current ethics guidelines. In the present article, the authors offer practical wisdom as an alternative to the deontological approach. First, we develop this complex
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Using systematic reviews to inform environmental policy-making Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-02-26 Matilda Miljand, Katarina Eckerberg
There is a demand for scientific knowledge to make informed decisions in environmental policy. This study examines expectations of knowledge use, and how knowledge stemming from systematic reviews (SR) is being used through an analytical framework that distinguishes between instrumental, conceptual and legitimising evaluation use, as well as between process and product use. Empirically, we investigate
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French language abstracts Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-02-10
Rob van den Berg, Dennis Bours, Astrid Brousselle, Jindra Čekan, Scott Chaplowe, Eleanor Chelimsky, Ian Davies, Weronika Felcis, Timo Leiter, Debbie Menezes, Robert Picciotto, Patricia Rogers, Andy Rowe and Juha Uitto
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Editorial Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-02-10 Elliot Stern
This issue continues a strong theme from 2021, which explores the implications for the evaluation community of the climate, environmental, and sustainability crises we all face. Other themes in this issue include bridging programmatic and systemic levels of analysis, increasingly important when evaluating in the Anthropocene; and how theory-based evaluation approaches adapt to politicised settings
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What should evaluation learn from COP 26? Views of evaluation practitioners Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-01-24 Rob van den Berg, Dennis Bours, Astrid Brousselle, Jindra Čekan, Scott Chaplowe, Eleanor Chelimsky, Ian Davies, Weronika Felcis, Timo Leiter, Debbie Menezes, Robert Picciotto, Patricia Rogers, Andy Rowe, Juha Uitto
Leading evaluation practitioners were asked about lessons from the recent 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) for evaluation practice. Contributors emphasize the importance of evaluating equity between rich and poor countries and other forms of climate injustice. The role of the evaluation is questioned: what can evaluation be expected to do on its own and what requires collaboration across disciplines
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Development of a ‘real-world’ logic model through testing the feasibility of a complex healthcare intervention: the challenge of reconciling scalability and context-sensitivity Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-01-22 Thomas Mills, Rosie Shannon, Jane O’Hara, Rebecca Lawton, Laura Sheard
Logic models feature prominently in intervention research yet there is increasing debate about their ability to express how interventions work in the real-world. ‘Real-world’ logic models are a new proposition which express complex interventions in context. They are designed to help researchers strike a balance between context-sensitivity and scalability. This article explores the utility of real-world
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A critical realist approach to systems thinking in evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-01-06 Denise E. De Souza
Pawson and Tilley’s acknowledgment of programs embedded in multiple social systems has gained little traction in realist synthesis and evaluation practice. A practice focusing on fairly closed systems—explaining how programs work and do not work—has emerged. This article negotiates the boundaries of knowledge pertinent to have in program design and evaluation from a realist perspective. It highlights
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Program, complexity, and system when evaluating sustainable development Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2022-01-06 Nicoletta Stame
In light of the challenges of the Anthropocene, it is common today for evaluators to propose a systems rather than a program perspective. A program perspective is reproached for its simplicity and linearity, while the systems perspective is praised for its ability to account for complexity and emergence. This article argues that even before the systems perspective appeared on the horizon, the story
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Unpacking context in realist evaluations: Findings from a comprehensive review Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-10-25 Steffen Bohni Nielsen, Sebastian Lemire, Stinne Tangsig
Realist evaluation is an established approach in evaluation. The main question driving realist evaluation is to uncover how, for whom, and under what conditions an intervention works. This is accomplished by empirically examining the inner mechanisms by which an intervention generates outcomes within a particular context—explicating the underlying context–mechanism–outcome configurations. Despite the
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Monitoring and evaluation for thinking and working politically Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-10-24 Thomas Aston, Chris Roche, Marta Schaaf, Sue Cant
This article explores the challenges of monitoring and evaluating politically informed and adaptive programmes in the international development field. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of some specific evaluation methodologies which have been suggested as particularly appropriate for these kinds of programmes based on scholarly literature and the practical experience of the authors in using them
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Editorial Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-10-12 Elliot Stern
One sign that ‘theory-informed’ evaluation approaches have become mainstream is that the focus of scholarly attention has moved beyond simply advocating the importance of theory. Instead, we are seeing discussions about the scope of theory, sources of theory and how theory is expressed in evaluation practice. In this issue these discussions continue. We also continue the thread of articles on evaluation
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The unused potential of process tracing as evaluation approach: The case of cluster policy evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-09-15 Michael Rothgang, Bernhard Lageman
This article shows that process tracing developed in social science research can be used in evaluations of complex structural and technology policy programmes to overcome deficits in the methodological instruments used to date. Cluster policies are a well-suited example because they are characterized by complex impact patterns like many other current structural and innovation policy programmes. The
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Using environmental evaluation systems and their contribution to sustainable development Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-09-13 Magnus Larsson
Drawing on previous research into evaluation use and sustainable development, this article investigates to what extent and how a national evaluation system can advance sustainable development. The data comprise interviews with key actors, observations at seminars where evaluations were discussed, and analysis of evaluation reports. The actors were divided into three categories (i.e. central, proximal
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Preventing children’s death by heatstroke: How alternative accident theories affect policy design and evaluation Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-08-29 Marco Di Giulio
When public policies are designed from scratch, with no or limited possibility of learning from past experience, decision makers rely on their creativity and lateral thinking to counterbalance cognitive biases. One of the crucial issues for both evaluators and policy makers in such situations is not only to elaborate a sound theory of the programme but also to be aware of the existence of competing
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Surviving the Anthropocene: How evaluation can contribute to knowledge and better policymaking Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-08-23 Juha I. Uitto
We live in the Anthropocene in which human impact on Earth is the dominant force. At the same time, humans are very much part of the ecosystem. This close interdependency is brought home by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as by anthropogenic climate change. Ecosystem health and human health are closely interlinked. Transformational change is required to avoid further catastrophes caused by the three
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Clarifying realist analytic and interdisciplinary consensus processes in a complex health intervention: A worked example of Judgemental Rationality in action Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-08-23 Sarah Rybczynska-Bunt, Lauren Weston, Richard Byng, Alex Stirzaker, Charlotte Lennox, Mark Pearson, Sarah Brand, Mike Maguire, Graham Durcan, Jonathan Graham, Sarah Leonard, Jenny Shaw, Tim Kirkpatrick, Christabel Owens, Cath Quinn
Judgemental rationality is infrequently referenced within discussions of Realist Evaluations. Judgemental rationality refers to researchers’ capacity to assess which, potential, meanings provide the most credible explanations. In evaluation work, rationale for analysis is provided, though rarely do we see how an evaluator made judgements between competing theories, and which theories were discarded
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The spontaneous theoreticians: How evaluators build and revise their knowledge of programs through experience Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-08-01 Claire Tourmen, Marielle Berriet-Solliec, Denis Lépicier
What exactly do evaluators learn about programs through experience and how? We chose a constructivist framework to investigate the structure of evaluators’ program-related knowledge, namely the form, content, and origins of their expressed theories. In this context, we complemented a Piagetian theory of learning with new developments offered by “probabilistic” (or “Bayesian”) models of learning. We
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Contribution tracing for organisational-wide planning, improved collaboration and evaluative thinking Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-07-30 Yulye Jessica Romo Ramos
In 2015, The Wellcome Trust launched a new strategic approach to its work and created a framework to measure success. This article focuses on a particular dimension of this framework: research impact linked to the Trust’s pool of research award holders. This article describes why contribution tracing was chosen as an evaluation approach. It also describes how it was used in innovative ways to handle
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How can multi-criteria analysis support deliberative spatial planning? A critical review of methods and participatory frameworks Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-07-30 Geert te Boveldt, Imre Keseru, Cathy Macharis
In spatial planning, the paradigm has shifted from positivist to deliberative approaches. Still, cost–benefit analysis remains the dominant evaluation method. Multi-criteria analysis is arguably more appropriate, as it allows for stakeholder participation. While there are dozens of ever more sophisticated multi-criteria analysis methods, their practicality as real-world learning tools has received
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Editorial Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-07-30 Elliot Stern
This issue continues to explore how evaluation should respond to environmental crises; offers two contrasting answers to the question: ‘where do evaluator theories come from?’ further indicates how evaluation is adapting to non-linear, co-produced and sometimes transformational policy making; takes forward debates about the ethical and moral obligations of evaluators; demonstrates how theory-based
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From abstract to ideal–The limits of models. A reply to Pawson’s ‘boxed in by models’ Evaluation (IF 2.763) Pub Date : 2021-05-07 Axel Kaehne
Pawson’s article raises the important question of what constitutes good and bad modelling during a pandemic. His article makes the case for more involvement of social scientists to capture the complex adaptive nature of governmental policy. While articulating a welcome critique of epidemiological models, his article fails to recognise that all model use simplifications which make some models better