Policy evaluation as science: a critical assessment

During theh last few years policy evaluation has become an important area of research. Urban and regional policies have been subjected to more detailed scrutiny than ever before. Yet the gowing body of evaluative research remains isolated from many wider debates in the social and economic sciences. This can be attributed partly to the predilection for scientific methods, caused by the apparent certainty and objectivity they confer. This orientatioin is reflected in the tendency to separate evaluation from the policy process; the narrow perspective of many evaluative studies; the emphasis on quantification; the mechanical approach to analysis; and the inattention paid to undestanding causal processes.