Policy Evaluation

Policy evaluation concerns the estimation of the effectiveness of public policies, programs, or projects and their management and implementation. Because policy is about change, policy evaluation should explain what factors or determinants led citizens or groups to do things or take actions that otherwise they would not do (e.g., quit smoking, recycle products, practice sustainable behavior, end domestic violence, retain students in school, attract investments, reduce unemployment). To implement such policies, governments have created programs with specific achievement goals. The role of policy evaluators is to give educated estimates of the effects of changes in government policies. From a public administration perspective, program evaluation is a scientific activity that entails the use of scientific methods to measure the outputs, implementation, and outcomes of programs for decision-making purposes. But beyond all this, the key question in policy evaluation is the following: What does government do to improve the quality of life of individuals-citizens? It is also important for policy evaluators to decide if it is better to do something than do nothing to resolve a problem. This entry examines approaches to policy evaluation, the political role of evaluation, and some of the techniques used for policy evaluation.

Historically, the role of social scientists and program evaluators in governments has been at the forefront of the debate on the relevance of normative versus empirical research in the decision-making process. The opposition between those who favor the “scientifization” of politics and those for the “politicization” of science has created two classes of program evaluators: those who think that we can bring social changes by looking at and comparing the action taken by several governmental entities to resolve social problems and those who believe that everything remains normative and the support of [Page 1908]stakeholders is essential for the implementation purposes. Looking back on the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Beveridge Report, the Coleman Report of education, and the War on Poverty, all these policy initiatives led to several actions and new programs to respond to social issues.

Therefore, policy evaluation refers also to the broad idea of social engineering, meaning the capacity of evaluators to resolve social problems and to find superior solutions. The evaluators' role in governing is also to suggest the best policy alternatives to resolve a social problem. Decision makers need to understand the impact of their actions; therefore, policy, program, and project evaluations as a knowledge activity contribute to the rationalization of decision making by determining the best course of action and the limitations of governmental interventions (Lee Sechrest & Aurelio Figueredo, 1993; Evert Vedung, 1997). Thus, evaluators are not mere technicians measuring what government has been doing but also are intimately connected to making and improving public policies.