Download or read book Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking written by Rakesh Mohan and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2007-03-05 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public policymaking is a high-stakes business that affects millions of citizens and budgets ranging in the billions of tax dollars in even the smallest of states. Policymakers need timely evaluative information reported in understandable language by unbiased sources. It is this need that evaluators at all levels of government, as well as those in many nonprofit organizations, seek to meet as they conduct evaluations, analyze policy options, and recommend action on the part of policymakers. The authors contributing to this volume examine theoretical and practical approaches to designing evaluation projects in ways that promote the use of evaluation results in high-stakes settings. The volume explores management of the politics of evaluation, which can be accomplished by considering the context in which an evaluation occurs and examining strategies for maximizing both evaluators' independence from and their responsiveness to key stakeholders. Unconventional approaches, such as prospective evaluation and development of analytical tools for use by agency personnel, are examined, as is promotion of evaluation use through a symbiotic relationship with performance measurement. The chapter authors discuss utilization strategies as applied to evaluations of public health, education, and corrections programs. The final chapter provides sage advice to evaluators on how to impact policy development.
Download or read book Evaluating Nonformal Education Programs and Settings written by Emma Norland and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2006-03-03 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the issues with which evaluators of nonformal education programs (such as parks, zoos, community outreach organizations, and museums) struggle. These issues are not unique to nonformal programs and settings. Rather, they pose different sets of problems and solutions from those that face evaluators of traditional education programs. The authors address this topic from extensive experience as evaluators and education professionals who have worked in nonformal education settings. Billions of dollars are spent annually on nonformal, informal, and nontraditional education programs and collaborative formal-nonformal efforts. Public and private dollars fund literally thousands of programs, and yet the field of program evaluation has provided little guidance for evaluating such efforts. There are precious few resources available to lead program administrators, staff, and evaluators through the maze of programs with the diversity of the constituencies that support them. The stakeholders and audiences of nonformal education programs are numerous, and these programs can range from a one-shot, hour-long lecture to an ongoing, one-day-a-week volunteer program, to a three-week study tour, to a four-weekends-across-one-year-work camp, to a "stop by when you can" museum collection.
Download or read book OECD Public Governance Reviews Improving Governance with Policy Evaluation Lessons From Country Experiences written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Policy evaluation is a critical element of good governance, as it promotes public accountability and contributes to citizens’ trust in government. Evaluation helps ensure that decisions are rooted in trustworthy evidence and deliver desired outcomes. Drawing on the first significant cross-country survey of policy evaluation practices covering 42 countries, this report offers a systemic analysis of the institutionalisation, quality and use of evaluation across countries and looks at how these three dimensions interrelate.
Download or read book Policy Evaluation written by Ray C. Rist and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1995 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For governments to be successful in achieving their objectives, they need to select the correct policy instruments. This volume addresses the role of policy instruments in achieving policy objectives. Policy Evaluation provides a systematic assessment of the impact that public policy evaluations have on the governance of democratic societies. This book emphasises the impacts of policy evaluations on the formulation, implementation and accountability functions of governments. At all three phases of the policy cycle, there is a need for coherent and systematic evaluation. This book demonstrates how such evaluations can be conducted and the opportunities for their subsequent utilization.
Download or read book Federal Evaluation Policy written by Joseph S. Wholey and published by Washington : Urban Institute. This book was released on 1970 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: USA. Research results of a study of the federal system for the evaluation of social policy programmes - distinguishes four types of evaluation, viz. Programme impact, programme strategy, project evaluation and project rating, covers administrative aspects, organizational relationships between national level and local level, financial aspects and personneling, evaluation techniques, etc., and includes recommendations. Bibliography pp. 121 to 134.
Download or read book Advancing Public Policy Evaluation written by John Mayne and published by North Holland. This book was released on 1992 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several research topics are discussed in this volume, beginning with research related to the organization and management of program evaluation within government departments, or across government departments in a national or sub-national jurisdiction. Following this there are papers on research related to the planning of evaluation schedules and/or the planning of individual evaluations; research related to the conduct (management methods and reporting) of program evaluation studies within and across national jurisdictions; and research related to enhancing the utilization of evaluation findings. The volume focuses on how these aspects of the evaluation process relate, and are useful to the various clients for evaluation. These clients include those within the evaluating organization (program managers, heads of organizations); political clients (legislative bodies, politicians); clients in central control organizations (budget offices, audit offices); and the public.
Download or read book Public Policy and Program Evaluation written by Evert Vedung and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluation is a controversial and little-understood strategy of public governance, control, and decision making. As early as classical antiquity, scholars were summoned to court to counsel kings. Public policy and program evaluation is a recent addition to the great chain of attempts to use the brainpower of scholars and scientists to further the interests of the state. Evaluation scholars are asked to provide retrospective assessments of the implementation, output, and outcome of government measures in order to effect deeper understanding and well-grounded decisions on the part of those in charge of government operations. Evaluation is the process of distinguishing the worthwhile from the worthless, the precious from the useless; evaluation implies looking backward in order to be able to steer forward better. Written from a political science perspective, Public Policy and Program Evaluation provides an overview of the possibilities and limits of public sector evaluation. Evert Vedung examines evaluation as a mechanism for monitoring, systematizing, and grading government activities and their results so that public officials, in their future-oriented work, will be able to act as responsibly, creatively, and efficiently as possible. Topics discussed include: "Evaluation, Rationality, and Theories of Public Management"; "Models of Evaluation"; "Internal or External Evaluation"; "Impact Assessment as Tryout and Social Experimentation"; "Process Evaluation and Implementation Theory"; "The Eight-Problems Approach to Evaluation"; and "Uses and Users of Evaluation." All evaluation rests upon the idea that perceptions, opinions, intentions, judgments—in short, everything concerned with the world of human consciousness—play such interesting roles in political and administrative action that their functions are worth investigating. Through experience, humans may learn from past actions. The interventions of the modern state are so extensive, their execu
Download or read book Evidence Building and Evaluation in Government written by Kathryn Newcomer and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2021-11-26 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public managers, contractors, and grantees conducting evaluations for government operate in complex environment where policymakers and commissioners of evaluation expect different types of “evidence” and simultaneously employ different criteria in judging the quality of that evidence. This text provides a road map for evaluators doing business within or for government, and public managers who are expected to assess and use evidence generated by a large variety of evaluation approaches. The book provides checklists and how-to guidance to help students and other readers develop skills in important activities such as: assessing the quality of evidence claims; developing theories of change to guide the design and evaluation of programs and policies; developing learning agendas to bridge the gap between evidence producers and potential evidence users; and increasing the support of public leaders and executives in the generation and use of evidence to inform their decision-making. The authors include end-of-chapter exercises for readers to test their ability to apply the skills described.
Download or read book Prevention Policy and Public Health written by Amy A. Eyler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prevention, Policy, and Public Health provides a basic foundation for students, professionals, and researchers to be more effective in the policy arena. It offers information on the dynamics of the policymaking process, theoretical frameworks, analysis, and policy applications. It also offers coverage of advocacy and communication, the two most integral aspects of shaping policies for public health.
Download or read book Program Evaluation written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) aims to ensure that agencies use performance information in decision making and holds them accountable for achieving results and improving government performance. GPRAMA requires GAO to evaluate the act's implementation; this report is one of a series to assess its initial implementation. GAO examined the extent of agencies' use of program evaluations--a particular form of performance information, factors that may hinder their use in program management and policy making, and strategies that may facilitate their use.GAO surveyed a stratified random sample of 4,391 federal civilian managers and supervisors to obtain their perspectives on several results-oriented management topics, including the extent of and barriers to their evaluation use. GAO also interviewed the Office of Management and Budget and evaluators on barriers to evaluation use and strategies to facilitate it at five agencies selected for their evaluation experience in the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Labor. These officials' views cannot be generalized but provide useful insights."
Download or read book Program Evaluation and the Management of Government written by Eliot Freidson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book appears at an opportune time in the history of evaluation. Its detailed and up-to-date account of the organization and use of evaluation in eight Western, democratic countries—Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Holland, Norway, and Switzerland—shows how evaluation functions at different levels of development. Focusing on the national or federal level of government, this volume presents a systematic and comparative view of eight nations at different stages of the development, institutionalization, and utilization of evaluations. All of these original contributions have been written by academics and government officials involved in the production and use of evaluation findings. Each shows how their respective country has moved to institutionalize evaluation at the federal level, and each explores the reasons for that institutionalization. Among them are managerial accountability, the increased complexity of the decisions facing policymakers, federally sponsored social change that needs to be tracked and assessed, and the increasing recognition that political power comes to those who possess such information. Program Evaluation and the Management of Government is tightly integrated. The contributions share coherence, a common analytic framework and use of key terms, resulting from the authors’ three-year dialogue as members of the Working Group on Policy and Program Evaluation sponsored by the International Institute for Administrative Sciences located in Belgium. Their shared commitment to working together has given us the first systematic effort to assess evaluation across such a large number of countries. It will be of interest to applied social scientists and policymakers, especially those interested in comparative research.
Download or read book The Program Evaluation Standards written by Donald B. Yarbrough and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2011 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Including a new section on evaluation accountability, this Third Edition details 30 standards which give advice to those interested in planning, implementing and using program evaluations.
Download or read book Evaluating Public Policy written by Frank Fischer and published by Wadsworth Publishing Company. This book was released on 1995 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of dollars are spent each year on the evaluation of domestic and foreign policies. Policy analysis has emerged as an important component of the policy-making process in American government. This text differs from others--not only does it teach students how to evaluate the empirical aspects of a public policy--but also provides an analytical framework for assessing the value judgements that infuse policy decisions. Students learn to assess whether a program reflects the kinds of things that society ought to be doing.
Download or read book Can Governments Learn written by Frans L. Leeuw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is continual concern about the ability of governments to perform the duties and responsibilities that their citizens have come to expect from them. Many citizens view government as inept, arthritic, and dedicated to the preservation of the bureaucratic status quo. As we close the twentieth century, the challenge for democratic governments is to become adaptive, flexible, innovative, and creative. In short, they need to become learning organizations. This book explores what it will take for governments to break out of their traditional ways of approaching problems and learn new approaches to finding solutions. Can Governments Learn? examines organizational learning in the public sector. It seeks to understand the role policy and program evaluation information can play in helping governments learn. Among the democratic societies studied are Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Significantly, the studies documented here show that the concept of organizational learning has vitality and applicability cross-nationally. Can Governments Learn? evaluates preconditions for governmental learning as well as the institutional and human resource factors that contribute to the process. This volume in the Comparative Policy Analysis Series is essential for policymakers, government officials, and scholars interested in improving the performance of governments.
Download or read book Creating Adaptive Policies written by Darren Swanson and published by IDRC. This book was released on 2009-09-04 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title describes the concept of adaptive policymaking and presents seven tools for developing such policies. Based on hundreds of interviews with people impacted by policy and research of over a dozen policy case studies, this book serves as a pragmatic guide for policymakers by elaborating on these seven tools.
Download or read book Public Policy Evaluation written by Kenneth M. Dolbeare and published by SAGE Publications, Incorporated. This book was released on 1975-11 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Policy Framework on Sound Public Governance Baseline Features of Governments that Work Well written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interconnected challenges of our times call for a coherent and multidimensional approach to public governance. The OECD Policy Framework on Sound Public Governance provides governments at all levels with an integrated diagnostic, guidance and benchmarking tool that aims to improve the quality of public governance – an objective that takes on immediate strategic importance for governments as they strive to manage the COVID-19 crisis and plan for a sustainable and inclusive recovery.
