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Evaluation
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The Effects of Institutional Design on the Utilization of Evaluation

Evidenced Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

Andreas Balthasar

Interface Institute for Policy Studies, Switzerland

This article presents some of the results from a study in progress, focusing on the influence of the institutional distance between evaluators and evaluees on the utilization of evaluations. The basis for the results presented here is an analysis of ten case studies from Switzerland. These cases involve evaluations that were carried out in different institutional contexts, with widely varying institutional distances between evaluators and evaluees. ‘Qualitative Comparative Analysis’ (QCA) has been used to interpret the cases, in order to allow a combination of case-and variable-centred comparisons. The analysis indicates that, under certain conditions, the institutional distance between evaluators and evaluees has no influence on the use of evaluations. In particular, formative objectives can be achieved quite independently of distance. When interpreting the results, however, one should not neglect the fact that they are solely based on a systematic evaluation of ten case studies with QCA. Generalization is not possible on this basis, nor is this the aim of the present article. On the contrary, the objective is to continue developing the debate about the influence of the institutional distance between evaluators and evaluees on the utilization of evaluations.

Key Words: evaluation utilization • institutional design • qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) • Swiss federal administration • Switzerland

Evaluation, Vol. 12, No. 3, 353-371 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1356389006069139
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