Programme Evaluation in a Dynamic Policy Context

Abstract

This chapter describes the evaluation of a large complex social change programme in England, UK. During implementation, the programme experienced a series of changes to its form, function and governance, which in turn had impacts upon the practice of evaluation itself. These changes also raised questions about the place of evaluation within a policy context that increasingly focuses upon indicators and outcomes of effectiveness and other features and tensions that characterise the New Public Management. This chapter outlines the programme and its evaluation in this context, in order to be able to explore these impacts and raise questions about how we learn from social change programmes.

Citation

Mason, P. (2007), "Programme Evaluation in a Dynamic Policy Context", Kushner, S. and Norris, N. (Ed.) Dilemmas of Engagement: Evaluation and the New Public Management (Advances in Program Evaluation, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 67-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7863(07)10005-3