Category Archives: Strategic policy evaluation

The Friday Funny: Focusing on the important things in planning major initiatives

Evaluation is not just something we do at the end of a program, nor only impact evaluation. Some forms of evaluation are needed at the beginning of new interventions to inform the planning – evaluations in the form of needs … Continue reading

Posted in Friday Funnies, Strategic policy evaluation | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Free webinar on Evaluation and Policies

Is policy evaluation fundamentally different to program evaluation? How can lessons learned from program evaluation (such as the value of stakeholder involvement) be applied to the evaluation of policies? The next webinar in the series of monthly live webinars on … Continue reading

Posted in Development, Professional development, Strategic policy evaluation | Tagged , | 3 Comments

What constitutes “evidence”? Implications for cutting-edge, tailored treatments, and small sub-populations

In the medical profession in particular, there are some very rigid beliefs about what constitutes good enough “evidence of effectiveness” to justify offering, recommending, allowing patients to try, or even just not vehemently opposing a particular type of treatment for a patient.

There are some glimmers of hope in other sectors (e.g. in the Best Evidence Synthesis work here in New Zealand). But there are still three areas where there are very serious challenges in building a credible evidence base given the kinds of constraints and realities surrounding them. They are: (1) cutting-edge treatments; (2) treatments that are by their very nature tailored/individualized rather than standardized across patients or populations; and (3) learning what works for small sub-populations Continue reading

Posted in Causal inference, Community programs, Development, Education, Government programs, Health, Strategic policy evaluation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments