Towards a conceptual structure for evaluating policy analytic activities

Relatively little research has been done on the topic of evaluating policy analytic activities. This paper presents the results of a survey of publications from the field of policy analysis and some related fields. It appeared that a large variety exists regarding evaluation concepts and criteria. Although the establishment of a single set of generally applicable criteria is not feasible, a conceptual structure for identifying and categorizing criteria to evaluate policy analytic activities is proposed in this paper. The elaborated structure and constructed list of criteria provides a basis, from which researchers can, in individual cases, make a selection depending on the context and objectives of their research. The list of criteria provides a helping hand to evaluate and, in the end, improve policy analytic activities.