13Impact Evaluation
Impact evaluation has a strong summative emphasis in that it provides findings from which a judgment of the worth of a program can be made. Impact evaluations are retrospective in that they occur at a logical point in time of program delivery to help us to take stock of that program. Ideally, Impact evaluations are undertaken on programs that are in a mature or settled stage and have had sufficient time to have an effect.
Impact evaluation rests partly on a not-unreasonable assumption that citizens at large should know whether programs funded by government, or in which they have an interest, are making a difference. Stakeholders expect that programs, where possible, meet their intended goals and do not lead to negative side-effects. ...
