Expanding the Role of Program Evaluation in Social Welfare Policy Analysis

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Abstract
Program evaluation is integral to the policy analysis process in social services. Increasingly, program administrators and policymakers rely on program evaluation results for making micro- and macro-level decisions about client services. This article examines the role of program evaluation in relationship to several dimensions of policy analysis and suggests that program evaluation is most persuasive as a component of the policy process when its role is clearly understood. Such clarity can be achieved by using the program mandate to guide evaluation activity and including frontline practitioners in developing program evaluation models.