Policy Evaluation

Policy/program evaluation constitutes a key element of contemporary policymaking and refers to a comprehensive, often multi-year study of program/policy function and outcomes. This course will expose students to: 1) the complexity and scope of policy evaluation; and 2) the basic methods of policy and program evaluation. The social, political, and ethical contexts of evaluation will also be covered in the class. Throughout the semester, we will look at evaluation examples that have been conducted on public issues, programs, and policies to demonstrate key points. We will also work through the application of fundamental evaluation concepts and techniques, and at the same time address a range of measurement issues, the basics of analysis, and reporting of performance data. Students will be exposed to a number of evaluation studies and will have hands-on experience of designing evaluation projects.