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An examination of conflicting evaluations made of the field of public policy studies since 1970. The field is praised for: (1) providing a new perspective on political & social phenomena, while preserving substantive & methodological principles; (2) being relevant to increased societal productivity, as well as concerned with high-level issues in political theory, social philosophy, & the philosophy of science; (3) stressing an interdisciplinary perspective, while emphasizing the importance of political science in policy formation, implementation, & evaluation; (4) utilizing statistical analysis, optimizing research, mathematical modeling, & psychological decision-analysis, in examining highly normative questions; (5) providing information at national, state, & local levels, as well as in administrative agencies, legislatures, & courts; & (6) being useful to liberals as a form of economic planning, & to conservatives as a means of bringing good business sense to government. It is suggested that, having achieved respectability, it is time to further develop applications of political & social science to important policy problems. Modified AA

Character and role of policy evaluation as it presently applied; based on a survey of 189 existing evaluations, 1971-83.

The character of evaluation & the use of evaluative data in France are explored in a survey of 300 a posteriori analyses that assessed the outcomes of public policies between 1971 & 1983. Of these, 269 evaluations were categorized according to subject area of programs evaluated, 250 according to the nature of implementing devices, 232 by evaluator, & 251 by initiator of evaluation. Findings show a relatively high number of social program evaluations, which were usually initiated by the government research services, Us, & the press. All types of public policy were evaluated, with emphasis on regulatory policies. The largest number of evaluators were professionals from research organizations, & evaluations were chiefly initiated by administrators of such organizations. Although increasing interest in evaluation in recent years is noted, the process is not uniform, codified, or rigorous, & is poorly integrated into the decision-making process. Strong political pressure would be needed to move the government toward an effective appraisal system. 5 Tables. Modified HA

Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation is the only book of its kind to present aspects of public policy evaluation that relate to economic, technology, social, political, international, and legal problems. Rather than looking at specific narrowly focused programs, this book emphasizes broad-based evaluation theory, study, and application, providing a rich variety of exceptional insights and ideas.

"This comprehensive Handbook examines public policy evaluation in democracies. Focusing on the political dimension of the evaluation process, it argues that policy evaluation can be an emancipatory tool, reducing social inequalities and exclusion, and offers novel suggestions on how evaluations can be used to improve democratic policymaking. Laying out how evaluation relates to policy design, law-making, performance auditing and policy learning, this Handbook explores how policy evaluation can foster public participation, strengthen governance and enhance democracy. It uses experimental, constructivist and participatory approaches to analyse global case studies, offering epistemological, theoretical, methodological and normative insights. Contributors examine the institutionalisation of policy evaluation in national and international political systems, how to build evaluation capacity, the transformation of evaluation practice through digitalisation, and the challenges posed to evaluators by post-truth politics and artificial intelligence. This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for academic and professional policy evaluators seeking to deliver effective evaluation processes. It will also be essential reading for students and scholars of public policy, public administration and management, and political research methods"--

Discusses one of the key issues in designing any evaluation system, the choice of the performance criteria. Centers on the criterion of efficiency as it could be applied in the criminal justice system. Looks at relations between equity and either effectiveness or efficiency; at detriment rather than benefits and multiobjective allocation problems. (PAS)

First published in 1998, this volume examines how super-optimum decisions involve finding alternatives to controversies whereby Conservatives, Liberals, or other major groups can all come out ahead of their best initial expectations simultaneously. This book is organised in terms of concepts, methods, causes, process, substance, and the policy studies profession. Concepts clarify that policy evaluation traditionally involves: (1) Goals to be achieved; (2) Alternatives available for achieving them; (3) Relations between goals and alternatives; (4) Drawing a conclusion as to the best alternative in light of the goals, alternatives, and relations; and (5) Analysing how the conclusion would change if there were changes in the goals, alternatives, or relations. Super-optimizing also involves five related steps, but with the following improvements: (1) Goals are designed as conservative, liberal, or neutral; (2) Alternatives get the same designations; (3) Relations are simplified to indicate which alternatives are relatively high or low on each goal; (4) The conclusion involves arriving at an alternative that does better on Goal A than Alternative A, and simultaneously better on Goal B than Alternative B; and (5) The fifth step involves analysing the super-optimum or win-win alternative in terms of its feasibility as to the economic, technological, psychological, political, administrative, and legal matters.