Introduction
Over the past 50 years, scholars have proposed various definitions of program evaluation, primarily from the standpoint of assessing the effects of social programs. Some definitions include the following:
Evaluation determines the merit or worth of a program, policy, or entity (Scriven 1967).
Evaluation determines what is needed in societal programs through the systematic collection and use of data (Mertens and Wilson 2012).
Evaluation objectively examines the outcomes of programs to determine whether goals are met successfully or unsuccessfully (Weiss 1973).
Cumulatively, program evaluation involves the systematic study of social programs in the public sector. Rooted firmly in social science research methodology, program evaluation determines the merit or worth of program components or the effectiveness of program processes as they relate to program...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Azzam T, Levine B (2015) Politics in evaluation: politically responsive evaluation in high stakes environments. Eval Program Plann 53:44–56
Chelimksy E (1987) The politics of program evaluation. Society 25(1):24–32
Chelimsky E (2006) The purposes of evaluation in a democratic society. In: Shaw I, Greene J, Mark M (eds) The SAGE handbook of evaluation. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 33–55
Chouinard JA (2013) The case for participatory evaluation in an era of accountability. Am J Eval 34(2):237–253
Chouinard JA, Cousins JB (2015) The journey from rhetoric to reality: participatory evaluation in a development context. Educ Assess Eval Account 27(1):5–39
Cronbach LJ, Ambron SR, Dornbusch SM, Hess RD, Hornik RC, Phillips DC,…Weiner SS (1980) Toward reform of program evaluation. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Datta L-e (2011) Politics and evaluation: more than methodology. Am J Eval 32(2):273–294
Mertens DM, Wilson AT (2012) Program evaluation theory and practice: a comprehensive guide. Guilford Press, New York
Mohan R, Sullivan K (2006) Managing the politics of evaluation to achieve impact. N Dir Eval 2006(112):7–23
Palumbo DJ (1987) The politics of program evaluation. Sage, Newbury Park
Patton MQ (2008) Utilization-focused evaluation. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Rossi PH, Lipsey MW, Freeman HE (2003) Evaluation: a systematic approach. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Scriven M (1967) The logic of evaluation. In: Tyler RW, Gagné RM, Scriven M (eds) Perspectives of curriculum evaluation (AERA monograph series-curriculum evaluation). Rand McNally, Chicago
Vanlandingham GR (2010) Escaping the dusty shelf: legislative evaluation offices’ efforts to promote utilization. Am J Eval 1–14
Weiss CH (1973) Where politics and evaluation research meet. Evaluation 1(3):37–45
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fernandez, K., Gonzales, J. (2016). Politics in Program Evaluation. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2517-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2517-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences