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While participatory evaluation (PE) constitutes an important trend in the field of evaluation, its ontology has not been systematically analyzed. As a result, the concept of PE is ambiguous and inadequately theorized. Furthermore, no existing instrument accurately measures stakeholder participation. First, this article attempts to overcome these problems by using the works of G. Goertz (2006) and J. Gerring (1999) on concept formation and evaluation to assess current conceptualizations of PE. Second, an amended version of the framework developed by J. B. Cousins and E. Whitmore (1998) is proposed as an alternative to current conceptualizations. This amended framework is then operationalized and adapted in a participation measurement instrument. The proposed conceptualization and instrument have the potential to contribute to the production of sound empirical knowledge about evaluation and to reflections on PE practice.

Systematic review and synthesis methods have gained wide acceptance within the social sciences and, as a result, many postgraduate students now consider using them for their thesis or dissertation research. However, students are rarely aware of all the concrete implications that their decision entails. This reflective narrative reports the experience of a political science student who began to conduct a systematic review as part of his PhD dissertation but who did not complete it. The aim of this article is to identify challenges and lessons learned from this experience and to formulate recommendations for postgraduate students who wish to make an informed choice with respect to the use of these methods.

Program take-up is a necessary condition for program effectiveness. Yet, non-takeup is a significant challenge for many social programs, including Québec's Supplement to the Work Premium (SWP), a refundable tax credit targeted toward long-term welfare clients. Based on interviews with 21 public actors and 46 program participants and nonparticipants, this study explains how low program awareness, the low value of the benefit and the significant administrative burden borne by potential and actual participants contribute to the non-take-up of the SWP in this sample. Moreover, four policy implications and recommendations that can inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of social programs, are derived from this study.

Most quantitative, comparative welfare state research assumes that subnational welfare regimes are irrelevant or identical to their national counterparts. Many qualitative case studies, on the other hand, have underlined the differences between subnational and national regimes. In this article, we attempt to build bridges between these two strands of literature by examining the case for a Quebec model, that is, a subnational welfare state regime that is distinct from its Canadian counterpart(s). We reviewed seven publications from which we extracted 188 quantitative results relevant to the distinct subnational regime hypothesis. Although not all these results are independent nor based on conclusive evidence, they generally agree that a distinct welfare regime exists in Quebec. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of the Quebec case for the study of welfare regimes at the subnational and regional levels.