ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of the information that should be made available to the assessment team and reviewed with them before the technical assessment effort begins. It discusses the decision-making context, or what the assessment is to do and when and the procedural context, or how the work is to be done and the results are to be presented. In many cases, the particular assessment being undertaken is part of a decision-making and planning process that involves a series of interrelated assessment and decision-making steps. The purpose of the assessment, and hence the appropriate level of detail and analysis, are affected by the effort's position in the overall decision-making process. In order to perform a valid, professional assessment while protecting one's organization, the social assessor cannot afford to be naive about the political nature of the assessment process.
