Evaluation Traditions in Denmark

Abstract

Evaluation research developed slowly in Denmark, partly due to special political conditions in the development of the Danish welfare state. In the last 10 years evaluation has been growing rapidly, especially in the area of public services. This article presents four major traditions in Danish evaluation research today; survey-based evaluations, theory-developing evaluations, action research-based evaluations and internal evaluations. The picture of Danish evaluation research is still rather dominated by survey- based evaluations relying on otherwise much criticized positivistic quantitative methods and without the use of theory in evaluations. Even if other traditions exist the international discussions of theory and methods in evaluation research have not yet found their way into Danish evaluation discussions to any substantial degree. The positive political interest in Denmark in the use of evaluations—and especially the growth in internal evaluations—accentuates the problem of evaluation research being able to overcome its link with positivistic methodologies and subsequently integrate newer traditions in social science theory and methodology in order to produce useful knowledge.