When an ambitious program evaluation of a public policy (such as welfare reform) fails to find that the new policy had a positive impact,
A) the effort in implementing and evaluating the program was a waste of time and money.
B) one should assume that the evaluator did a poor job.
C) one can expect that the quality of the debate over the policy will be more enlightened.
D) the policy will be changed within months of the evaluation report.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When an ambitious program evaluation fails to find positive impacts of a public policy, it is an opportunity for a more robust and fact-based debate over the policy, leading to better-informed decision-making in the future. However, this does not mean that the effort in implementing and evaluating the program was a waste of time and money, or that the evaluator did a poor job. It may take longer than a few months for policy changes to take place as a result of the evaluation report.

When an Ambitious Program Evaluation of a Public Policy (Such