Surviving the Routinization of Evaluation

Abstract

Students of evaluation have found many examples of reports gathering dust on the shelf, as well as politically hired outsiders with an ax who relentlessly cut public programs. These images indicate that evaluation often does not fulfill its genuine democratic potential. A study of the Danish municipal sector shows that out of 600 evaluations, less than 1% led to termination of the evaluated activities, whereas 78% of the evaluations led to adjustments of program activities. On this basis, an alternative view of evaluation is proposed: a managerial support system. This requires a new understanding of the utilization problem in evaluation and its democratic ramifications.