Public Service Transformation: Introductory guide to evaluation

This guide from the Public Service Transformation Network aims to support evaluation of the effectiveness of work to transform public services.

It sets out some guiding principles and key considerations that can be used to support the measurement of the impact of changes to services. However, the guide is not intended as a comprehensive framework that can be used in all situations.

Excerpt

"Transforming services to deliver better outcomes for the people who use them is the most important challenge facing the public sector today. In doing so, we must also redesign services in a way that improves value for money for the taxpayer. That will require better engagement with service users to understand what they value most and better replication of best practice so that we learn from what works.

Proper evaluation is an essential business tool. Public service providers should think about evaluation from the outset when redesigning services. Effective evaluation provides powerful insights into why some approaches are more successful than others and how to deliver better services within constrained budgets. Evaluation provides decision-makers with the evidence they need to support new ways of providing services and to make the best possible case for securing the resources needed to deliver them." (Public Service Transformation Network, 2014)

Contents

  • Introduction to Evaluation
    • What is evaluation?
    • Measuring success
    • The evaluation process: key stages
    • Types of evaluation
  • Undertaking the Evaluation
    • Evaluation scoping
    • Evaluation preparation
    • Monitoring and data collection
    • Research methods
    • Analysis and data interpretation
    • Communicating the results
  • Common pitfalls
  • Externally commissioned evaluation
    • The need for an external evaluation provider
    • Getting an external evaluation provider
    • The Evaluation Budget
    • Managing the external supplier
    • Learning the lessons
  • Existing evaluation resources and guidance
    • Guidance to Support Self Evaluation
    • Developing logic/theory of change models
    • General Evaluation resources
    • Information Sharing, Data Protection and Ethics
    • Cost Benefit Analysis Guidance and Unit Cost Database 

Sources

Public Service Transformation Network (2014), Public Service Transformation: Introductory guide to evaluation. Retrieved from: https://mycommunity.org.uk/