Evaluation is research conducted to investigate a social program — a public policy.
Big Question: Was there a significant and positive impact to the target group(s) that would have not occurred without the program?
Who Cares? Stakeholders: Taxpayers, Program Beneficiaries, Program Administrators, Elected Officials, etc.
How do we know what we know?
Science is a method of inquiry that seeks to describe and explain the natural and social worlds, and to predict events in the natural and social worlds.
Scientific Method is a process of inquiry that uses a set of procedures to systematically test a hypothesis.
The analysis and evaluation of the basic concepts and practices within and about science.
It deals with the assumptions that undergird the scientific method.
It is concerned with the nature of scientific knowledge and the justification for scientific claims.
Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief.
Axiology is the study of the nature of values.
Deals with questions like “What is real?” and “What is the nature of reality?”
Ontology is the study of the nature of being.
Cosmology is the study of the nature of the universe.
Theology is the study of the nature of God.
How should we go about knowing what we know?
Positivism is the view that the scientific method is the best way to acquire knowledge.
Reality exists independently of our minds and is driven by laws of cause and effect which we can know.
Inquiry can be free of bias and values.
Hypotheses can be tested and verified.
Post-Positivism is the view that the scientific method is the best way to acquire knowledge, but that it is not free of bias and values.
Reality exists independently of our minds and is driven by laws of cause and effect, but it cannot be fully understood.
There is a multiplicity of perspectives and interpretations about cause and effect.
Hypotheses can be tested and falsified.
Paradigm Shifts occur when a new theory replaces an old theory.
Constructivism is the view that the scientific method is not the best way to acquire knowledge.
Reality exists as a mental construct and is relative to the individual.
Knowledge and the knower are part of the same subjectivity entity.
Identifies, compares, and describes the various constructions that exist, both hermeneutically (through interpretation of texts) and dialectically (through the interaction of ideas)
Critical Theory is the view that the scientific method is not the best way to acquire knowledge.
Reality exists but cannot be fully understood or explained.
Social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions than from individuals.
Knowledge is a social construct that is relative to the individual and the social context.
Knowledge is used to justify power and privilege, to oppress and exploit, and to liberate and empower.
Symbolic Interactionism is the view that the scientific method is not the best way to acquire knowledge.
Humans act based on the meanings that things have for them.
Meanings are modified and handled through interpretative processes used by individuals dealing with the signs and symbols they encounter.
The meanings of things are derived from, and arise out of, social interaction.
How does this relate to public policy?
“A definition of the problem is part of the problem: Politics arises because we do not share perceptions of what the problems are, or if we do, what follows from the definition in terms of what can be or should be done… Ill-structured as they are, public issues are not demarcated: we do not know where one problem begins, and another ends” (Parsons 1995, 88-9).
James A. Jones (1974, 561): “Whosoever initially identifies a social problem shapes the initial terms in which it will be debated and the initial range of alternatives that will be considered. The initial identification of a social problem is thus a crucial act of social policy.”
Have a great break!