Date/Time
Date(s) - 26/10/2023
0:00
Categories
The Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies (LIEPP)
Date: 26th October 2023
Time: 5pm-6pm:
Speakers: Doug Besharov (UMD School of Public Policy) and Anne Revillard (Sciences Po CRIS , LIEPP)
Description:
The LIEPP is a Sciences Po research platform created in 2011. Its aim is to develop the evaluation of public policies through an interdisciplinary scientific approach.
As part of its transversal activities in public policy evaluation, LIEPP took part in the preparation of the bilingual book “Policy Evaluation: Methods and Approaches” presenting 24 qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods or approaches in evaluation. The book was published by Sciences et Bien commun (Quebec) and is fully accessible online in open access.
As an applied research practice, policy evaluation has borrowed a range of methods from the social sciences. But its growth has also led to the development of specific approaches. Based on this observation, two fundamental choices, in line with LIEPP’s collective project, guide this book: combining tools from fundamental research with others developed in evaluation practice, and opening a dialogue between quantitative and qualitative methods. Twenty-four qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods or approaches are thus presented in a didactic and illustrated manner, based on a common series of questions that facilitate their comparison. This book draws heavily on the group of researchers open to interdisciplinarity and to the dialogue between methods that has been built up at LIEPP over the years: among the 25 authors of this book, nine are affiliated to LIEPP and eight others have had the opportunity to present their research at seminars organised by LIEPP. Thanks to its accessibility, this book is both a tool for interdisciplinary and inter-methods dialogue for academics, and a useful introduction for students, practitioners, policymakers and civil society.
In this session, Doug Besharov and Anne Revillard will introduce the topic of this year’s METHEVAL seminar series, external validity or generalizability in policy evaluation. Following up on the event organized at LIEPP in June, 2023, the sessions organized during the 2023-2024 academic year will address the question of how to generalize based on evaluative approaches that embrace complexity, notably realist evaluation. In this introductory session, Doug Besharov and Anne Revillard will open a discussion on definitions and terminology, around notions such as external validity, generalizability, applicability, statistical and analytical generalization, stressing how different methodological perspectives tackle these issues differently, and reflecting on possible common grounds for discussion.