Demystifying Evaluation: Practical Approaches for Researchers and Users

Social research practitioners and others working in the public and voluntary sectors, in academia and consultancy are increasingly under pressure to provide policy-related evidence with limited resources and rising expectations. Demystifying evaluation is an accessible introductory guide setting the foundations for tackling those challenges, explaining the options open to evaluators, their merits and uses, and how to make appropriate choices of research methods.

Drawing on his experience of policy and programme evaluations for the public sector and outside, David Parsons provides a practical roadmap cutting across different evaluation theories. He covers issues such as managing expectations of evaluation, using and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, engaging stakeholders and providing action-orientated approaches to help end-users.

David Parsons is Visiting Professor at Leeds Beckett University, Principal Consultant at P&A Research and Consulting. A Fellow of the Academy of Social Science, he was appointed to the UK government’s Evaluation Trial and Advice Panel in 2023.