Key Points

•  Process evaluation, action research and case studies can be used to evaluate the implementation and delivery of a policy to provide feedback on a wide range of issues. These can include whether the policy is being implemented as planned, what is working more or less well and whether it is delivering expected outputs and outcomes.

•  Process evaluation cannot determine whether a policy "worked" this can only be achieved using an impact evaluation. It can, however, complement an impact evaluation by providing crucial insights into why a policy did, or did not, work and test the logic model on which the policy is based.

•  It is important to consider at the planning stage the information requirements for any economic evaluation that process evaluation would be best placed to collect.

•  Process evaluation, action research and case studies use a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods including one to one interviews, group interviews, surveys and observations. Multiple methods are often used to provide triangulation of data and corroborate findings.