Theories of Change in Rural Policy Evaluation

Bibliographic Data

ID5017402
AuthorsDamian Maye (0000-0002-4459-6630, Professor of Agri‐Food Studies, Countryside and Community Research Institute University of Gloucestershire Swindon Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL50 4AZ UK, corresponding author), Gareth Enticott (0000-0001-5510-9597, Reader in Human Geography Cardiff School of Planning and Geography Cardiff University Cardiff UK), Rhiannon Naylor (0000-0002-2024-6601, Senior Lecturer in Rural Land Use and Management Royal Agricultural University Cirencester UK)
Year2020
Volume60
Issue1
Pages198-221
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociologia Ruralis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0199 • E-ISSN: 1467-9523
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soru.12269
OpenAlexW2972193452
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited54

Rural policy evaluation helps to understand the extent to which policies have met pre-defined objectives, achieve value for money and learn from implementation failures. However, there is increasing debate over the quality of policy evaluation and the extent to which its methods can fully contribute to an understanding of rural policy. Responding to these calls, this article employs a theory driven approach to policy evaluation to assess the social impacts of attempts to reduce animal disease on farms in England. Popular in other policy arenas, theory driven evaluation relies on developing a theory of change to examine the interactions between policy contexts and mechanisms and policy outcomes and determine what works for whom. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative and quantitative research, the article identifies two mechanisms of change to evaluate the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP) in England to reduce incidence of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle. The article shows how these mechanisms - 'seeing is believing' and 'practice similarity' - are triggered by different contextual factors leading to the failure to deliver expected policy outcomes. We also consider the advantages and limitations to theory based evaluation, and the contribution it can make to the evaluation of other rural development programmes

Economics · Management · Political science · Public economics · Public relations · Theory of change · Value (mathematics) · Variety (cybernetics) · Agricultural Economics and Policy · Computer Science · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Rural development and sustainability

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