ABSTRACT
ASSESSMENT DESIGNERS SEEKING to make assessments more effective often look to what has worked before for ideas and models. Previous experience in conducting scientific assessments of environmental issues is a source of many lessons—both positive and negative—about how to construct and manage these processes. For example, participants in international scientific assessments often view the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) as having a particularly successful scientific assessment process, and therefore it is often the source of assessment-related lessons. However, in the midst of designing assessments, those drawing lessons often are not able to analyze or judge whether lessons from assessments conducted in other situations on other issues are truly applicable to the context and issues at hand. It may be possible that case-specific factors dominate, such as exactly who led the assessment or the specific scientific issues in question. Therefore, these designers risk drawing the wrong lessons—by incorrectly assuming that what was effective elsewhere will be effective in their situation.
