ABSTRACT
The federal government currently spends upward of $1 billion annually on formal evaluation activities. In addition to these formal evaluations, both the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress carry out informal evaluations during their respective budget-review, authorization, and appropriation activities. Evaluations are of little value if they are not used to make programs better, and there is considerable evidence to indicate that federal evaluations are often not used. If evaluations are to be useful in increasing citizen well-being, they must be in a readable, manageable, timely, and relevant form. In reviewing federal evaluation efforts, it is clear that much of the input data that is the foundation of evaluation research must of necessity come from local programs. Congressional hearings are replete with examples of specific requests by individual congressmen and senators for specific types of evaluative information. Federal evaluation practices have been characterised by an inordinate passion for methodology and technology.
