Getting On and Off the Policy Agenda

A Dualistic Theory of Program Evaluation Utilization

Abstract

This article deals with the impact of program evaluation on policy making and, more specifically, on policy making with regard to home care and services for the elderly in Québec. Three important evaluations have influenced policy making in this area since 1983. The article proposes a “policy communities” framework to explain why and how these evaluations either influenced or failed to influence policy. It suggests that program evaluation strategies should reflect the political context in which evaluation takes place, and that the utilization of program evaluation results depends to some extent on program evaluators’ ability to participate effectively in the policy processes in question.