Program evaluation methodologies - A comparative assessment

Abstract

This paper presents the methodologies used to execute a program evaluation. Several types of methodologies and techni
ques on program evaluation can be found in the literature, composing a valuable reference base for the evaluator. By presenting
the various methodologies we do not aim to measure their efficiency and propose the best one. On the contrary, we believe that
each methodology has some advantages and, moreover, in some cases it could be the most appropriate. The aim of this paper is
to summarise the different approaches in evaluation, to gather the various methodologies and to determine the specific circum
stances under which each methodology is the most appropriate to follow. A more ambitious aim is to propose some interesting me
thodology mixes, which can be useful guides when looking for evaluation designs that fit better in the reality of a program.