Evaluation : seeking truth or power?
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Evaluation : seeking truth or power?
(Comparative policy evaluation series, v. 17)
Transaction Publishers, c2011
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Evaluation has come of age. Today most social and political observers would have difficulty imagining a society where evaluation is not a fixture of daily life, from individual programs to local authorities to parliamentary committees. While university researchers, grant makers and public servants may think there are too many types of evaluation, rankings and reviews, evaluation is nonetheless viewed positively by the public. It is perceived as a tool for improvement and evaluators are seen as dedicated to using their knowledge for the benefit of society.
The book examines the degree to which evaluators seek power for their own interests. This perspective is based on a simple assumption: If you are in possession of an asset that can give you power, why not use it for your own interests? Can we really trust evaluation to be a force for the good? To what degree can we talk about self-interest in evaluation, and is this self-interest something that contradicts other interests such as "the benefit of society?" Such questions and others are addressed in this brilliant, innovative, international collection of pioneering contributions.
Table of Contents
- 1: Evaluation
- I: "Do unto Ourselves...."
- 2: Policy and Evaluation
- 3: Sharing Power among Evaluation Players
- 4: Taking One's Own Medicine? The Self-Evaluation of the Danish Evaluation Institute
- II: Game Frontiers: Political and Administrative Players
- 5: PART
- 6: Co-Ordination of Social Policies at the EU Level
- 7: The Power of Illusion
- 8: Peer Evaluation-The Powerful Peer?
- III: To Have and to Hold ... Power
- 9: Using Their Discretion
- 10: Power Asymmetries and Performance Audits
- Postscript
by "Nielsen BookData"