ABSTRACT
The Dutch Informatics Stimulation Programme (INSP) was launched in 1984 as a joint venture between the Departments of Economics, Education and Agriculture. Its overall aim was to stimulate the introduction of information technology and to compensate for the supposed lagging behind in the Netherlands in comparison with other industrialized countries. The stimulation programme has run for a period of five years and was terminated in December 1988. The decision to evaluate the INSP, preferably before its termination in December 1988, was made by the Council of Ministers in late 1988. It seems highly likely that the political motive of some of the members of the cabinet in having the INSP evaluated was to obtain further positive publicity for a spectacular demonstration project. So far the evaluation of the INSP has consisted of two phases: an evaluability analysis which was conducted during the first half of 1987 and a ‘sober, future-oriented’ evaluation, carried out from November 1987 until July 1988.
