Evaluating “Effectiveness” under the Policy on Results
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9784153 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amelie Nordstrom (0009-0000-1378-6805, Carleton University, corresponding author), Ardyn Nordstrom |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 87-109 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Public Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4840 • E-ISSN: 1754-7121 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/capa.70053 |
| OpenAlex | W7134178122 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 23 |
Evaluation units provide essential information for administrators of public programs. Canada's 2016 Policy on Results emphasizes evaluating “effectiveness,” with a focus on outcomes. However, it is unclear if evaluation units use this or more implementation‐oriented definitions in practice, which has implications for the information evaluations will provide. This study examines 370 evaluation reports published by the largest federal departments to determine how evaluation functions are approaching effectiveness, using a combination of text mining and manual thematic analysis. Since 2014, evaluation reports have increasingly adopted implementation‐oriented approaches, with variations across departments. Explanations for these patterns are discussed, along with policy implications
Evaluation methods · Focus (optics · Government (linguistics · Information system · Public policy · Thematic analysis · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Health Policy Implementation Science · Public Policy and Administration Research
The Goldilocks Challenge
Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation
Tidytext
Deadly Clerics
Supervised Machine Learning for Text Analysis in R
Text as Data
Toward a Definition of Evaluation Within the Canadian Context
Strategic Evaluation Utilization in the Canadian Federal Government
Revisiting Contribution Analysis
The Use of Text as Data Methods in Public Administration
Understanding Dimensions of Organizational Evaluation Capacity
Trente ans d'évaluation de programme au Canada
Delivering Results for Canadians
Navigating the challenges of policy evaluation
Evaluating the evaluators
Using Word Order in Political Text Classification with Long Short-term Memory Models
Combining Text Mining and Manual Thematic Analysis to Understand Participant Experiences With Surveys
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |