Providing Guidance for Program Evaluations

This article reviews two approaches to encouraging program managers to conduct evaluations and to improve the quality of their evaluations. The two approaches are Sunset reviews and evaluation plans. Examples of the application of each approach to energy conservation programs are discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are considered and recommendations about how to improve the guidance process are presented. A guidance process that combines the best features of both approaches is needed. The essential problem is to strike the proper balance between universal requirements and specific designs, methods, and procedures that are feasible to implement. Sunset review requirements ensure that some evaluation is conducted by all program managers, but do little to improve the quality of specific evaluation efforts. The evaluation plan approach, in contrast, leads to good resultsfor specific programs, but does little to ensure that comparisons across programs can be made. If generic evaluation plans matched to appropriate program types were combined with Sunset mandates for evaluation, significant improvements in the quality, comparability, and agencywide coverage of evaluation efforts should result.