Public programs are created in a highly visible and politicized environment.
Evaluation is an attempt to dispassionately measure their effects.
However, a dispassionate measure is difficult to achieve because of the
complexity of the effort and the many and diverse interests involved. Reasoned
selection of evaluation objectives, evaluators, and evaluation tools
can increase the likelihood that the fruits of evaluation efforts benefit public
programs.
Program administrators and overseers need to contemplate what they
wish to achieve through the evaluation efforts they undertake or sponsor.
Several strategic issues should be considered to enhance the objectivity and
usefulness of program evaluation: