Evaluation, Inteval, and Two National Audit Offices (U.S. GAO & Netherlands Court of Audit): Ray Rist’s Contributions and Leadership in the Early Years of INTEVAL
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: This paper describes Ray Rist’s intellectual, research-focused work in the early years of Inteval (largely between the mid-1980s till around mid-1990s). It sets out what the position and roles of the (then) USA General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) were with respect to evaluation.
Purpose: Differences and similarities between the GAO and NCA experience are described, with the GAO as a ‘first wave’ organization in the evaluation profession and the NCA as a ‘second wave’ organization, as it learned from the USA experiences. The labelling of first and second wave developments in evaluation was formulated by Derlien (1989). There is a particular focus on the role of leadership in shaping practice.
Setting: During the period of the mid-1980’s till mid-1990’s’, Rist and the author of this article were both working at respectively GAO and NCA in the field of policy evaluation/program evaluation and methodology. The setting was such that they worked together on a number of occasions and products, amongst others dealing with how (performance) audits and evaluation developed; the introduction (in the NCA) of government-wide (comparative) evaluations of tools of government like subsidies, information campaigns and inspections (covering all ministries), how evaluation was related to the learning capability of governments and how Inteval as a group of evaluators, auditors and other social scientists developed.
Intervention: Not applicable
Research design: Not applicable
Data collection and analysis: Not applicable
Findings: A number of lessons are set out about the role of leadership in evaluation.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright and Permissions
Authors retain full copyright for articles published in JMDE. JMDE publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY - NC 4.0). Users are allowed to copy, distribute, and transmit the work in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes, provided that the original authors and source are credited accurately and appropriately. Only the original authors may distribute the article for commercial or compensatory purposes. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org
References
Bemelmans-Videc, M-L, Rist Ray C. & Vedung, E. (eds.) (1998). Carrots, Sticks and Sermons: policy instruments and their evaluation. Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London; Comparative Policy Evaluation Vol 7.
Chelimsky, E. (1990). Expanding GAO's capabilities in program evaluation. The GAO Journal, 8 (Winter/Spring), 43-53.
Cusley. D. (1990) Review of Ray C. Rist (Ed.). Program evaluation and the management of Government. Evaluation Practice, 11(3), 242-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/0886-1633(90)90031-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0886-1633(90)90031-8
Dahler- Larsen, P. ( 2018 ) The skeptical turn in evaluation . In J. E. Furubo & N. Stame (Eds.), The evaluation enterprise. New York: Routledge, 58 - 80. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429470202-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429470202-3
Derlien, H.U. (1989). Genesis and Structure of Evaluation Efforts in Comparative Perspective. In: Rist, R.C. (Ed.) Program Evaluation and the Management of Government. New York: Routledge: Chapter 9.
Frey, B. (2006). Evaluitis - a New Illness (Evaluitis - Eine Neue Krankheit). CREMA; University of Basel. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.914123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.914123
Johnson, P. (1991) Ray Rist Talks about IIAS Working Group Program Evaluation. Interview. Evaluation Practice, 12(1), 45-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/109821409101200107 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/109821409101200107
Kordes, F.G. (1987) De gedaanteverandering van de Algemene Rekenkamer. Voordracht Nederlands Genootschap van Hoofdredacteuren.
Kordes, F.G., Leeuw, F. & van Dam, J. (1991) The Management of government subsidies in: A. Friedberg et al (eds). State Audit and accountability. Jerusalem, 280-299.
Leeuw, Frans L. (1992) Performance Auditing and Policy Evaluation: Discussing Similarities and Dissimilarities. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 7:53-68. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.07.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.07.004
Leeuw, Frans L.(1996a) Performance Auditing, New Public Management, and Performance Improvement: Questions and Challenges. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 9(2), 92-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579610116385 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579610116385
Leeuw, Frans L. (1996b) Auditing and Evaluation: Bridging a Gap, Worlds to Meet? New Directions for Evaluation, 71: 51-60. Leeuw. Frans L. and Kordes, Frans G. (1995) Some Impressions of the First European Evaluation Society Conference. Evaluation, 1(1), 122-124 https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.1042 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.1042
Leeuw, Frans L., van Gils, G. & Kreft, C. (1999) Evaluating anti-corruption initiatives: Underlying logic and mid-term impact of a World Bank program. Evaluation, 5, 194-219. https://doi.org/10.1177/13563899922208922 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13563899922208922
Leeuw, Frans L (2002) The monitoring and evaluation readiness assessment diagnostic: a review of logic and application, Utrecht University (not published).
Leeuw, Frans L. (2005) Organizing the evaluation process: organizational, theoretical, practical and managerial aspects. Utrecht University (not published).
Leeuw Frans L, Rist Ray C. & Sonnichsen Richard C. (1994) Can Governments Learn? Comparative Perspectives on Evaluation and Organizational Learning. Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London; Comparative Policy Evaluation Vol 3.
Leeuw, Frans L. & Pleger, L.(2023), Evaluation Capture, Evaluator Resilience And The Need For Competences Of Evaluators, in: Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 19, 46-53, https://doi.org/10.56645/jmde.v19i46.863 DOI: https://doi.org/10.56645/jmde.v19i46.863
Pressman, J. and Wildavsky, A, Implementation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
Raimondo, E. & Leeuw, Frans L. (2020) Evaluation Systems And Bureaucratic Capture: Locked In The System And Potential Avenues For Change, in: Burt Perrin & Tony Tony Tyrrell (eds), Bureaucracy and Evaluation, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020, chapter 9. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003100584-12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003100584-12
Rist, Ray C. (1986) Social science analysis and congressional uses: the case of the USA General Accounting Office, in: M.Bulmer (Ed.). (1986). Social Science and Social Policy. London: chapter 16.
Rist, Ray C. (ed.) (1989-90) Special Issue: Cross National Perspectives on the Policy Uses (and Abuses) of Evaluation, Knowledge in Society Vol 2/Winter. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687229 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687229
Rist, Ray C. (ed.) (1990), Policy and Program Evaluation: Perspectives on Design and Utilization, International Institute of Administrative Sciences: Brussels.
Rist, Ray C. (ed.) (1990), Program Evaluation and the Management of Government: Patterns and Prospects Across Eight Nations, Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London; Comparative Policy Evaluation Vol 1.
Rist, Ray C. (1989). Management Accountability: The Signals sent by Auditing and Evaluation. Journal of Public Policy, 9(3), 355-369. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00008503 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00008503