The Politics of Evaluation
Participation and Policy Implementation
Distributed for Policy Press at the University of Bristol
280 pages
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6 x 9 1/4
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© 2005
Evaluation has become a central tool in the development of contemporary social policy. Its widespread popularity is based on the need to provide evidence of the effectiveness of policies and programmes. This book sees evaluation as an inherently political activity, as much about forms of governance as scientific practice. Using a wide range of examples from neighbourhood renewal, health and social care and other aspects of social policy, it relates practical issues in evaluation design to their political contexts.With contributions from leading academics and evaluation practitioners, the book considers key issues in the politics of evaluation including: governance and evaluation; participatory evaluation; partnerships and evaluation; and learning from evaluation.The politics of evaluation is important reading for academics, social researchers, policy makers, service providers and professionals across the public services as well as professional evaluators. It will be a valuable resource for students on a range of social science and professional courses and those concerned with recent developments in social research methodology.
Contents
List of tables, figures and boxes
Acknowledgements
Notes on contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on contributors
Preface
Introduction: The politics of evaluation: an overview
David Taylor and Susan Balloch
Part One: Governance and evaluation
1. Below decks on the youth justice flagship: the politics of evaluation
Peter Squires and Lynda Measor
2. Urban regeneration: who defines the indicators?
Peter Ambrose
3. Reaching for the stars: the performance assessment framework for social services
Stella Law and Karin Janzon
Part Two: Participation and evaluation
4. Service-user involvement in evaluation and research: issues, dilemmas and destinations
Peter Beresford
5. Best Value but not best interests: can service users instruct mental health advocates?
Hazel Platzer
6. New Deal for Communities as a participatory public policy: the challenges for evaluation
Kay Graham and Amanda Harris
7. Discovery through dialogue and appreciative inquiry: a participative evaluation framework for project development
Glynis Cousin, Judith Cousin and Frances Deepwell
8. Evaluating projects aimed at supporting the parents of young people: “I didn’t learn anything new, but . . .”
Debi Roker
Part Three: Partnerships and evaluation
9. Evaluating interagency working in health and social care: politics, policies and outcomes for service users
Audrey Leathard
10. Reflections on an evaluation of partnerships to cope with winter pressures
Susan Balloch, Alison Penn and Helen Charnley
11. Evaluating a partnership approach to supporting people into employment
Hilary Arksey
Part Four: Learning from evaluation
12. Evaluation and the New Deal for Communities: learning what for whom?
Ian Smith and Lucy Grimshaw
13. Community-led regeneration: learning loops or reinvented wheels?
Mike Rowe and Marilyn Taylor
14. Can social capital be a framework for participative evaluation of community health work?
Jennie Fleming and Thilo Boeck
15. Learning the art of evaluation: presume the presence of politics
Georgie Parry-Crooke and Cathy Sullivan
Conclusion: What the politics of evaluation implies
Susan Balloch and David Taylor
Index
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