EVALUATION AS SOCIAL POLICY

Elaine Johansen

Review of Policy Research, 1986, vol. 6, issue 1, 26-35

Abstract: Policy research has become an integral part of the policymaking process but is changing as the goals and emphases o f policies change. The paper explores the shift in emphasis in evaluation research away from predominantly programmatic concerns and toward accountability issues in personnel and job evaluation. It depicts an inward turning in domestic policies from the provision of services to evaluation of government itself, and an acceleration in conflict over how the work of government should be structured and performed, and by whom. Using examples from three levels o f government, it describes what makes policies controversial, their evaluations political, and how the search for legitimacy and legitimizing technologies raises the stakes for all actors in the policy process–elected officials, administrators, consumers, and evaluators. Conclusions are drawn regarding the effect on research o f these changes in policy.

Date: 1986
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.1986.tb00644.x

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