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1. What is Policy Evaluation?What is Policy Evaluation?

By Shane Hall, eHow Contributor

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Public policy making does not end with the passage of legislation and the implementation ofprograms authorized by the new law. The next questions are whether the initiative achieved itsobjectives, what the effects were and whether any policy changes are needed. Policy evaluationanswers these and related questions.

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How to Evaluate Policies & Procedures

How to Evaluate Public Policy

1.Identificationo Policy evaluation is a systematic process for assessing the design, implementation

and outcomes of public policies. Evaluation uses social science research methods,including qualitative and quantitative techniques, to examine the effects ofpolicies.Some policy scholars, such as political scientist James Anderson, describe policymaking as a sequential process marked by distinct steps, such as agenda-setting,policy formulation, adoption and implementation. For Anderson and others,evaluation is the final step in this process. However, they caution that the publicpolicy process is ongoing, with evaluation often resulting in policy changes,which are then implemented and evaluated again.

Function

o Policy evaluation enables all participants in the policy process, includinglegislators, executives, agency officials and others, to measure the degree towhich a program has achieved its goals, assess the effects and identify any neededchanges to a policy. In addition, many state and local governments fund programswith federal grants, which have evaluation requirements.
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History

o As early as the 1930s, social scientists advocated the use of empirical researchmethods to assess the effects and consequences of government policies andprograms. Policy evaluation grew as an activity after World War II because thegrowth in the number of programs boosted the need for evaluations. Over time,policy analysis and evaluation became established fields of study.

Typeso The two main types of policy evaluation are formative and summative evaluation.

Formative evaluation examines the operations of the program, usually for thepurpose of improving the program and assessing its implementation. For example,a formative evaluation of a tutoring program would consider such measures as thenumber of tutors, the number of students who participated, enrollment proceduresand the amount of tutoring students received.

Summative evaluation asks whether the program achieved its intended goals. Ifthe tutoring program's goal was to raise student test scores in math, a summative

evaluation would include an analysis of math scores for students who participated.Often, the best policy evaluations employ a comprehensive approach that usesboth formative and summative techniques.

Considerations

o Policy evaluation is rarely as simple or straightforward as some politicianssuggest. Factors that complicate evaluations include identifying goals, measuringperformance and isolating the effects of policy from those of other factors. Inaddition, although it attempts to assess policy in an objective manner, evaluationactivities occur within a political environment. Policy-makers often want

immediate information on policy effects, but many programs have long-termeffects that will not be known in the short term.

References

James Anderson, Public Policymaking, 1994
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Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, Peter Rossi, Howard Freeman, and Mark Lipsey,1999.

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Interest Groups

Civil Liberties

Civil Rights

Public Policy

The Policymaking Process Politics and Policymaking Policymaking in Action

Economic Policy

Foreign Policy

Related Topics:

Criminal Justice

U.S. History I

U.S. History II

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The Policymaking Process

Public policy refers to the actions taken by government its decisions that are intended to solveproblems and improve the quality of life for its citizens. At the federal level, public policies areenacted to regulate industry and business, to protect citizens at home and abroad, to aid state andcity governments and people such as the poor through funding programs, and to encourage socialgoals.

A policy established and carried out by the government goes through several stages frominception to conclusion. These are agenda building, formulation, adoption, implementation,evaluation, and termination.

Agenda buildingBefore a policy can be created, a problem must exist that is called to the attention of thegovernment. Illegal immigration, for example, has been going on for many years, but it was notuntil the 1990s that enough people considered it such a serious problem that it required increasedgovernment action. Another example is crime. American society tolerates a certain level ofcrime; however, when crime rises dramatically or is perceived to be rising dramatically, itbecomes an issue for policymakers to address. Specific events can place a problem on the
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agenda. The flooding of a town near a river raises the question of whether homes should beallowed to be built in a floodplain. New legislation on combating terrorism (the USA Patriot Act,for example) was a response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Formulation and adoption

Policy formulation means coming up with an approach to solving a problem. Congress, theexecutive branch, the courts, and interest groups may be involved. Contradictory proposals areoften made. The president may have one approach to immigration reform, and the opposition-party members of Congress may have another. Policy formulation has a tangible outcome: A billgoes before Congress or a regulatory agency drafts proposed rules. The process continues withadoption. A policy is adopted when Congress passes legislation, the regulations become final, orthe Supreme Court renders a decision in a case.

Implementation

The implementation or carrying out of policy is most often accomplished by institutions otherthan those that formulated and adopted it. A statute usually provides just a broad outline of apolicy. For example, Congress may mandate improved water quality standards, but theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides the details on those standards and theprocedures for measuring compliance through regulations. As noted earlier, the Supreme Courthas no mechanism to enforce its decisions; other branches of government must implement itsdeterminations. Successful implementation depends on the complexity of the policy,coordination between those putting the policy into effect, and compliance. The Supreme Court'sdecision inBrown v. Board of Education is a good example. The justices realized thatdesegregation was a complex issue; however, they did not provide any guidance on how to

implement it "with all deliberate speed." Here, implementation depended upon the close scrutinyof circuit and appeals court judges, as well as local and state school board members who wereoften reluctant to push social change.

Evaluation and termination

Evaluation means determining how well a policy is working, and it is not an easy task. Peopleinside and outside of government typically use cost-benefit analysis to try to find the answer. Inother words, if the government is spendingx billions of dollars on this policy, are the benefits

derived from it worth the expenditure? Cost-benefit analysis is based on hard-to-come-by datathat are subject to different, and sometimes contradictory, interpretations.

History has shown that once implemented, policies are difficult to terminate. When they areterminated, it is usually because the policy became obsolete, clearly did not work, or lost itssupport among the interest groups and elected officials that placed it on the agenda in the firstplace. In 1974, for example, Congress enacted a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour. It waseffective in reducing highway fatalities and gasoline consumption. On the other hand, the law
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increased costs for the trucking industry and was widely viewed as an unwarranted federalintrusion into an area that belonged to the states to regulate. The law was repealed in 1987.

What is Policy Evaluation?

The consequences of such policy programs are determined by describing their impacts, or bylooking at whether they have succeeded or failed according to a set of established standards .Several evaluation perspectives are:

Evaluation is the assessment of whether a set of activities implemented under a specific policyhas achieved a given set of objectives.

Evaluation is the effort that renders a judgment about program quality. Evaluation is information gathering for the purposes ofmaking decisions about the future of

the program.

Evaluation is the use of scientific methods to determine how successful implementation and itsoutcomes have been.

(Theodoulou and Kofinis, 2004, p. 192)

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Four Types of Policy Evaluation

Most models of policy evaluation ground their analytical perspective in the logical process usedto determine the disparity between what was conceptualized by the initial policy goals and whathas actually been accomplished by the policy or program as implemented. However, many othermodels focus their analysis on different objectives such as what is the true purpose of theevaluation, what is the role of the evaluator in the process, how broad or narrow should the scopeof the evaluation be, and finally how should the evaluation be organized and conducted, forexample what measurement instruments should be employed to determine success or failure.Theodoulou and Kofinis (2004) identify four generic types of the most commonly used policyevaluation typologies and they are: process evaluation, outcome evaluation, impact evaluation,and cost-benefit analysis.

Types of Policy Evaluation

Process Evaluation Outcome Evaluation Impact Evaluation Cost-Benefit Evaluation

(Theodoulou and Kofinis, 2004, pp. 193-194)


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Process Evaluation:

As its name implies this type of evaluation analyzes how well a policy or program is beingadministered. This type of evaluation is employed more often by program managers to determinewhat can be done to improve the implementation, the aspects of service delivery, of the program.It does not directly address whether or not the policy or program is achieving the desiredoutcome or impact on the target population.

Types of Policy Evaluation: Process Evaluati on

Determine why a program or policy is performing at current levels. Identify any problems. Develop solutions to the problems. Improve program performance by recommending how solutions should be implemented and

evaluated once carried out.

(Theodoulou and Kofinis, 2004, pp. 193-194)

Outcome Evaluation:

Theodoulou and Kofinis somewhat confuse the concepts of outputs and outcomes in theirdiscussion of outcome evaluation. Outputs are measures of government activity such as thenumber of tax returns processed or the number of social security checks sent out each month.Whereas outcomes are normally considered to be the impact that a policy has on a targetpopulation, for example, did the policy produce the desired behavioral change initially sought. Inthis case, the authors state that outcome evaluation is concerned with outputs. For example, if thestated goal of a welfare policy is to reduce the number of people receiving welfare benefits thena determination is made to see if less people are receiving welfare benefits after programimplementation then before. However, what this type of evaluation does not indicate is whathappened to the people who used to receive the welfare benefits and who have been forced offthe system because they are no longer eligible. Did they find employment? Did they find othermeans of charity? Have they migrated to a life of crime? Outcome evaluation as described byTheodoulou and Kofinis focuses more on the readily available and tangible results of policy. Theactual impact of the policy is the subject of the next type of evaluation.

Types of Policy Evaluation: Outcome Evaluation

Legislative intent Program goals Program elements and indicators Measures of indicators Program outcomes (positive or negative)


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Impact Evaluation:

This type of evaluation is what is more commonly perceived as a policy evaluation. Theobjective of this type of evaluation is to determine whether or not a given public policy orprogram is in fact achieving the intended impact as visualized by the various policy actors whoeither supported or opposed the given policy. Using the welfare example once again as discussedabove this type of evaluation would answer the question what happened to the people who usedto receive the welfare benefits and who have been forced off the system because they are nolonger eligible. Did they find employment? Did they find other means of charity? Have theymigrated to a life of crime? In comparison [with outcome evaluation], impact evaluation is

concerned with assessing whether the target population is being affected in any way by theintroduction and implementation of the policy. There is also concern with the impact of theprogram on the original problem being addressedfor it is important for both [policylevelmanagers and policy designers] to ascertain whether target populations are appropriatelyreceiving delivery of a program (Theodoulou and Kofinis, 2004, 194).

Types of Policy Evaluation: Impact Evaluation

Theoretical goals of the program or policy. The actual goals. Program or policy objectives. Program or policy results and whether they are intended or unintended, positive or negative, in

effect.


Cost-Benefit Analysis:

Simply stated, a cost-benefit analysis is the comparison of the costs associated with a policy orprogram to the benefits generated by the policy. Continuing with the welfare example citedabove in the two previous definitions, the tangible cost of a new welfare policy with a goal toreduce the number of welfare recipients could be accurately evaluated to include agencyoperating costs and the actual monetary cost of the benefits that are provided to welfarerecipients. However, the cost-benefit analysis technique is controversial because it is extremelydifficult to calculate the intangible costs such as those borne by those individuals who are nolonger eligible to receive welfare benefits as a result of the new policy to restrict the number ofpeople on the welfare roles. Additionally, the intangible costs borne by society such as thepotential for increased crime or increased public health care costs or the long-term loss of


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employment opportunity and participation in the market place by those individuals who mayhave been able to pull themselves out of poverty if they were still eligible for welfare assistanceare extremely difficult to calculate. All too often the cost-benefit analysis technique is usedbecause actual real-world costs are easy to obtain, quantify, evaluate, and contrast against avariety of metrics or other policies or programs. Unfortunately, many intangible benefits, such as

the advantages gleaned by a well-educated society, may not be readily visible for many years tocome, and some intangible benefits are impossible to quantify such as the quality of life. Policyevaluators must constantly be aware that the costs and benefits used in any evaluation may notaccurately, if at all, represent the real impact of a given policy or program. Instead, a cost-benefitanalysis should be employed as one of several methods used to determine the efficacy orefficiency of government action.

Types of Policy Evaluation: Cost-Benefi t Analysis

A method with which to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of a policy's costs, benefits, andoutcomes

For certain types of programs, such as education or the environment, one could argue that thereal benefits do not materialize for years or decades.


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Seven Important Barriers to Effective Policy Evaluation

As increasing pressures are brought to bear on the public sector to perform its role moreeffectively and efficiently, evaluation will probably become an even greater source of conflict.Negative evaluations of a programs effectiveness and efficiency now will be more likely to leadto the programs termination than in more affluent times. The content of an evaluation, the valuesthat are contained in it, and event he organization performing the evaluation will all affect thefinal assessment. Evaluation research is now a major industry involving numerous consultingfirms (beltway bandits), universities, and organizations within government itself. Theseevaluative organizations will have their own perspectives on what is right and wrong in policyand will bring those values with them when they perform an analysis (Peters, 2007, p. 175).

As such, Peters identifies seven important barriers to effective policy evaluation that can impede

the seemingly simple but operationally difficult process of determining what actually occurred asa result of government action and more specifically determining the level of performance of apublic policy of program. It is equally important for both policy evaluators and the consumers ofpolicy evaluation to understand the basic nature of these difficulties. Specifically, anyoneengaged in policy evaluation must appreciate the degree of bias and unintentional, albeitsometimes intentional, confusion that can occur as a result of the difference between what isbeing measured during a policy evaluation and what policy-makers thought the policy shouldachieve. All too often evaluators, administrators, and the public focus on measurement statistics


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that are easy to obtain but have no real relationship between what has been accomplishedcompared to what the original intent of the public policy was. The following text block identifiesthe seven barriers as enumerated by Peters and it is followed by a brief description of each.

Barriers to Effective Policy Evaluation

1. Goal Specification and Goal Change2. Measurement3. Targets4. Efficiency and Effectiveness5. Values and Evaluation6. Politics7. Increasing Requirements for Evaluation

policy ass

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