Resource type

Description

Financial resources

A substantial part of the costs of an evaluation may be incurred after the policy has been implemented. Therefore, it is important to think about the financial resources required for the evaluation whilst planning the policy budget. Cost will be substantially lower if data can be used which already exist and/or are being collected through monitoring activities. Data collection exercises might need to be funded if the policy is novel or targeting unusual or hard-to-measure outcomes.

Management resources

Both internal and external evaluations will often require a dedicated project manager (with the specialist technical expertise to assure quality) who is responsible for: commissioning (for external evaluations); day-to-day management; advising the evaluation contractors and reacting to issues that develop. The level of input required will be greatest at key points (in particular, the design and commissioning stage), but this will be an ongoing resource requirement and should not be underestimated.

Analytical support

Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of many evaluations, it is important to consider the range of internal analytical specialists (such as social researchers, economists, statisticians, operational researchers, or occupational psychologists) who might need to be called upon for advice and to help design the evaluation approach and outputs. They can also advise on the effect of policy design on the feasibility of undertaking different types of evaluation. This can help ensure that the evaluation design will provide evidence to answer the research questions, and that, if necessary, appropriately skilled contractors are commissioned. Analytical input can also be useful in the steering of the project and in the quality assurance of outputs.

Delivery bodies

A successful evaluation will often depend crucially on the early and continued engagement and cooperation of the organisations and individuals involved in delivering the policy. It will be important to communicate what the evaluation seeks to address, what input will be required from them, and how they might benefit from the findings.

Wider stakeholders

The evaluation may also involve other stakeholders - for example, people and organisations directly or indirectly affected by the programme. The level of involvement and method of engagement will be specific to the policy and stakeholders in question, but may include inviting them onto a steering group, informing them about the evaluation, or including them as participants in the research.

Peer review

In order to ensure quality it may be necessary to have aspects of the evaluation peer reviewed. This is a requirement in some central government departments. Peer review might include the methodology, the research tools, and any outputs including interim and final reports.