ABSTRACT

Evaluation in the Post-Truth World explores the relationship between the nature of evaluative knowledge, the increasing demand in decision-making for evaluation and other forms of research evidence, and the post-truth phenomena of antiscience sentiments combined with illiberal tendencies of the present day. Rather than offer a checklist on how to deal with post-truth, the experts found herein wish to raise awareness and reflection throughout policy circles on the factors that influence our assessment and policy-related work in such a challenging environment. Journeying alongside the editor and contributors, readers benefit from three guiding questions to help identify specific challenges but tools to deal with such challenges: How are policy problems conceptualized in the current political climate? What is the relationship between expertise and decision-making in today’s political circumstances? How complex has evaluation become as a social practice?

Evaluation in the Post-Truth World will benefit evaluation practitioners at the program and project levels, as well as policy analysts and scholars interested in applications of evaluation in the public policy domain.

Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 11 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

Questions rather than alternative facts

chapter 1|19 pages

Co-creating evaluation for policy relevance

The challenges of the post-truth world

chapter 2|8 pages

Free trade, populism, and post-truth

An evaluation perspective

chapter 3|20 pages

Evidence as enlightenment versus evidence as certainty

Appropriate uses of evaluative information to inform policy in a post-truth world

chapter 4|19 pages

Lies and politics

Until death do us part …

chapter 6|19 pages

In search of effective communication with decision-makers for the post-truth era

Discourse strategies from pre-imperial China

chapter 7|18 pages

Do citizens even want to hear the truth?

Public attitudes toward evidence-informed policymaking

chapter 8|16 pages

Sustaining momentum for evidence-informed policymaking

The case of the US government

chapter 9|26 pages

Participatory budgeting, evaluation, and the post-truth world

Where are we, and where do we go from here?

chapter 10|16 pages

Evidence use in a post-truth world

A unique opportunity for evaluators?

chapter |9 pages

Conclusions

Some suggestions for evaluators' daily work in a post-truth world