Dual Level Evaluation and Complex Community Initiatives

Abstract

In the last decade ‘dual level’ evaluation, where evaluation is carried out at both a national and local level, has become increasingly common. It is often used as a way of evaluating complex government initiatives that operate across agency boundaries. Using ‘dual level’ evaluation is one way to address the complexity of such wide-ranging initiatives, by evaluating both for local development and national accountability. Yet the design of these evaluations has varied widely in the UK and the effectiveness of the different designs, and of the model itself, has not been examined. Using Sure Start as a case study, the article highlights some of the difficulties that can arise in dual level evaluations. It is argued that there is a need for a high level of integration between national and local evaluators and that dual models of evaluation should utilize the knowledge of local evaluators in the collection and interpretation of data.