Open to the Public: Evaluation in the Public Sector

by Breul,Jonathan D.

• ISBN13: 9780765803726
• ISBN10: 0765803720
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Open to the Public grows out of concern with evaluation in the public arena and the struggle to understand how best to use the information it generates. Many concepts and models of evaluation, how to undertake it, and how to make it more useful, were developed before government performance became of so much interest to the public. In fact, it is arguable that recent changes in the forms, shapes, structures, and media through which the information developed in the process of evaluation becomes public, require new ways of thinking about its role in society. What is the role of evaluative information in the public arena today? How, when, and under what circumstances does the actual use of evaluative information take place, and what are the forces at play? By compiling and comparing international case studies, this book considers forces that make the information produced in evaluations increasing "open to the public." They provide insights into the many factors that influence evaluation and its use in the public arena. Their case studies include such current topics as: "spin doctoring" of information by the media and this practice's relationship to evaluation studies, the hotly debated issue of school performance, and information about it aired in the public arena, and the controversial link between budget processing and government performance. This book will be invaluable to those conducting evaluations, public employees and commissioners, and those studying public administration.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Evaluation in the Public Arena	p. 1
Evaluation in the Media
Evaluation and Political Communication in the French Public Employment Service	p. 21
Dissemination of Evaluation Reports in Newspapers: The Case of CEPP Evaluations in Geneva, Switzerland	p. 43
The Preparation and Presentation of Public Evaluation Data
Community Perspectives on the Preparation and Reporting of Public Sector Performance Indicators	p. 69
Who Decides If and How Evaluative Information Reaches the Public Arena? The Case of School Performance Information in Ireland	p. 85
The Framing of Public Evaluation Data: Transparency and Openness in Danish Schools	p. 99
Evaluation Decisions and the Political Agenda
Using Evaluative Knowledge for Policy Design: A Case Study of the Swiss Addiction Policy	p. 121
The Growing Use of Performance Information in the Budget Process in the United States: The Convergence of Performance Budgeting and the Digital Transformation	p. 135
Citizen Participation
Creating Public Arenas for Evaluative Information on the Internet: Experience from E-democracy in Local Governments	p. 155
Does Citizen Participation in the Evaluation Processes Make Any Difference? With Special Reference to the Evaluation of Government Policies and Programs in the Korean Government	p. 169
Evaluation and Exclusion from the Public Arena: The Case of the British Deaf Community	p. 187
Calling Citizens to Deliberate on Disputed Policy Issues: Implications for Evaluations	p. 211
Afterword: Bringing Evaluation into Public Life-or Bringing Public Life into Evaluation: Making Sense of this New Era	p. 231
Contributors	p. 241
Index	p. 247
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