Recommendations

A crucial part of an evaluation is its set of recommendations, which can provide the necessary leverage for getting concrete action for program change or improvement. Even when an evaluation contract makes no explicit mention of whether recommendations are required, evaluators often develop and include them anyway. Undoubtedly, part of this is because the evaluator's knowledge about a program at the conclusion of the evaluation is probably fuller, more insightful, and less partisan than that held by program managers or participants. The evaluator can also provide an integrated voice for a variety of stakeholders with an authority that is greater than that of any individual or group.

Readers of an evaluation report deserve to know how the recommendations were arrived at and how well grounded they ...