The Evaluation Enterprise

A Critical View
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-60131-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 308 Seiten, Format (B × H): 235 mm x 158 mm, Gewicht: 578 g

Reihe: Comparative Policy Evaluation

Today, evaluation is part of governing systems and is supported by powerful institutions. It is taken for granted that evaluation leads to betterment. However, evaluation itself is seldom analyzed from a critical perspective. In this book, Jan-Eric Furubo and Nicoletta Stame have assembled an international line-up of distinguished experts and emerging scholars to fill this void.

Examining evaluation from a critical – or evaluative – perspective, each contribution in this book offers a systematic and critical insight into the broader relationship between evaluation and society. Divided into three parts, the various chapters ask questions such as:

- What are the consequences of the institutionalization of evaluation?

- Has the professionalization of evaluators favored their action in the public interest?

- Is the money spent on evaluation worth it?

- Is the market of evaluation allowing real competition for the best services?

The answers to these questions demonstrate that the constitutive effects of the social practice of evaluation can also be the suppression of other forms of knowledge and the favoring of certain notions about societal development and political and administrative processes.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Furubo, Jan-Eric

Stame, Nicoletta

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Verwaltungswissenschaft, Öffentliche Verwaltung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface: The Evaluation Enterprise, Or Evaluation as An Enterprise [Nicoletta Stame And Jan-Eric Furubo] Part 1: From Program Evaluation to The Evaluation Society 1. Understanding the Evaluation Enterprise [Jan-Eric Furubo] 2. The Politics / Administration Dichotomy and Evaluation [Nicoletta Stame] 3. The Skeptical Turn in Evaluation [Peter Dahler-Larsen] Part 2: The Evaluation Enterprise 4. From Law to Reality – A Critical View on The Institutionalization of Evaluation in The Swiss Canton of Geneva’s Parliament [Katia Horber-Papazian and Christian Rosser] 5. Evaluation Overload and Evaluation Underload [Rolf Sandahl] 6. Accountability’s Two Solitudes and The Questions It Raises: Accountability to Whom? By Whom? And for What? [Burt Perrin] 7. Italian Evaluation Policy Between Centralization and Judicially-Enforced Accountability [Mita Marra] Part 3: The Management of The Enterprise 8. Getting Value for Money? A Critical Analysis of The Costs and Benefits of Evaluation [Kim Forss] 9. The Journey to A Professional Designation for Evaluators in Canada [Marie-Helene Adrien And Lauren-Victoria Hellrung] 10. The Concerted Effort to Professionalize Evaluation Practice: Whither Are We Bound? [Thomas A. Schwandt] 11. The Commercial Side of Evaluation: Evaluation as An Industry and As a Professional Service [Steffen Bohni Nielsen, Sebastian Lemire, And Christina A. Christie] Conclusion: Towards A Better Understanding of The Evaluation Enterprise [Jan-Eric Furubo And Nicoletta Stame]

Über Autor(innen)

Jan-Eric Furubo has worked at different Swedish ministries, governmental agencies and The National Audit Office. He was co-editor of the International Atlas of Evaluation (2002), Evaluation – Seeking Truth or Power? (2011) and Evaluation in Turbulent Times (2013). He was the first president of the Swedish Evaluation Society and has had different roles within the European Evaluation Society.

Nicoletta Stame retired as Professor of Social Policy at "Sapienza" University, Rome. She was the first president of the Italian Evaluation Association and is a past president of the European Evaluation Society. She is associate editor of Evaluation. She is interested in the theory and methods of evaluation, on which she has published widely.