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 Research voor Beleid conducts various types of evaluations and analyses to help decision makers and policy makers better design, run, and evaluate policies.
Design
Ex-ante evaluation - A short-hand description of all analyses that can be conducted before a program or policy is implemented. It helps to gather information on a particular policy area to better prepare objectives, instruments, and evaluation techniques.
Needs assessment - A way to identify the needs of a particular group so that policies can be formulated that best meet what a group of people of community actually requires.
Impact assessment - Usually conducted in the course of an environmental review, where a study attempts to identify the environmental and social consequences of a current or proposed plan.
Case or scenario studies - In-depth analyses of other similar projects to see what lessons can be learned and applied to a planned policy or program.
Explorative research - Basic, preliminary research to determine whether an intervention with a particular program or policy makes sense.
Capacity building - Assistance offered to organisations to put in place the knowledge and systems required to implement or evaluate a particular policy or program.
Implementation
Process evaluation - Completed to determine whether all of the procedures in a particular program or policy were followed. A process evaluation is similar to an audit, though follows more than just how money was spent.
Interim evaluation - Completed in conjunction with programmes that have a fixed or indefinite period. The evaluation can judge to effectiveness of the programme to date and whether the objectives of a programme have been or will continue to be met.
Monitoring - Similar to an evaluation conducted during the course of a particular program or policy; however, while an evaluation tends to look at progress at a particular moment in time, monitoring is ongoing, producing reports of progress meeting objectives on a predefined, regular basis.
Afterwards
Ex-post evaluation (efficiency and effectiveness) - A short-hand description of all analyses that can be conducted after a program or policy has been implemented. It helps to gather information on a particular policy area to determine whether the objectives were met in an efficient and effective manner.
Cost-benefit analysis - Conducted to determine whether the costs of implementing a particular policy or program have generated significant gains for society. The benefits of a particular program are measured against the status quo, where one can then evaluate whether the resources expended on a programme have been wisely used.
Cost-utility analysis - Similar to a cost-benefit analysis, but used in areas where placing a monetary value on the benefit of a policy is difficult or unethical. This type of evaluation was first used in health policy, though can be seen in other areas, such as with the environment. Measurement is more subjective and based on stated preferences of users. Some common models for determining those preferences include standard gamble, time trade-off, rating scales, and paired comparisons.
Best practices - A set of recommendations on how a policy, program, or activity can best be enacted, usually determined by examining examples from other jurisdictions.
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