ABSTRACT
Research can serve to establish whether a policy has had the intended effect and to determine whether it has had any undesirable side effects. One important instrument that can afford central government insight into the way in which policy is implemented and into its effects is policy evaluation research. The utilization of findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations depends on, among other things, context. The amount of experience that ministries have with such studies and the number of management provisions there are for conducting them or having them conducted will possibly influence the degree to which findings and/or recommendations are utilized. Recommendations may indicate the direction in which policy should be adjusted. The way in which recommendations are formulated varies widely from ministry to ministry. The fact that the basic underlying assumptions about this Innovation-Oriented Research Programme (IOP) were addressed leads us to conclude that double-loop learning occurred. The basic underlying rationale of the IOP-instrument was openly examined and strongly criticized.
