Program evaluation use and its mechanisms: The case of Cohesion Policy in Polish regional administration

Abstract

This article discusses evaluation use in the area of EU operational programs implemented by Polish regional administration, which is an uncharted territory. The analysis is based on the assumption that evaluation is a long-term process producing a stream of knowledge that supports management decisions throughout a program's lifetime. Three cases of regional programs, their managing authorities and 44 evaluation studies completed by them between 2007 and 2012 were analyzed. The degree of evaluation use was found unsatisfactory and limited to minor modifications of the implementation process. The main barrier to the evaluation use was poor quality of evaluation studies, obvious and insignificant conclusions, reports missing answers to key questions. That resulted from other problems: incompetence of evaluators and inappropriate research methodologies.

The Game of Knowledge Brokering

“…The demand for the innovative method was driven by the real needs of evaluation practitioners in Poland. The Polish system of evaluation, despite its dynamic development, has been experiencing the problem of the utilization of produced studies (Kupiec, 2015; Olejniczak, 2013). The architects of the system from the Ministry of Economic Development of Poland hoped that knowledge brokering could help addressing the issue of limited use of evidence in public policies.…”

Understanding evaluation use from an organisational perspective: A review of the literature and a research agenda

“…Popular literature reviews (Cousins and Leithwood, 1986; Johnson et al, 2009) list over 100 empirical studies concerning evaluation use conducted between 1971 and 2005, with many more in the following years (e.g. Kupiec, 2015; Pattyn and Bouterse, 2020).…”