Publications

Evaluation Practice in the Federal Government

Part of our research program focuses on evaluative practices and the use of evaluations in the federal government. Among the many projects we have conducted in this area, the following target the use of evaluations for decision-making:

The « usability » of evaluation reports: A precursor to evaluation use in government organizations Bourgeois, I., & Naré, C. (2015) Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 11 (25), 60-67
Performance measurement as precursor to organizational evaluation capacity Bourgeois, I. (2016) Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 16 (1), 11-18
The influence of evaluation recommendations on instrumental and conceptual uses: An exploratory study Bourgeois, I., & Whynot, J. (2018) Evaluation and Program Planning, 68, 13-18
Strategic evaluation utilization in the Canadian federal government Bourgeois, I., & Whynot, J. (2018) Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 32 (3), 2018
The development and implementation of program evaluation recommendations in the Government of Canada Bourgeois, I., & Leblanc, L. (2019) Canadian Public Administration, 62 (2), 294-311
Bridging evaluation theory and practice: The contributions of John Mayne to Canadian federal evaluation Bourgeois, I. & Whynot, J. (2023) Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 37(3), 324-339

Neutral Assessment of Federal Evaluation Functions

Since 2009, most federal evaluation functions have been assessed by an external expert every five years. These “neutral assessments” aim to ensure that the Deputy Head of the department or agency is confident that the organization complies with the directives and standards of the Policy on Evaluation (2009-2016) and the Policy on Results (since 2016). They also aim to survey internal clients of the evaluation function about the performance of evaluators and the use of evaluations produced within the organization. We analyzed various approaches used and the main results obtained. In total, 41 reports from 28 different federal organizations were analyzed, leading to some interesting findings presented in the following articles and videos.

Ten years of neutral evaluations: What have we learned? Bourgeois I, Maltais S (2021) Video
Translating evaluation policy into practice in government organizations Bourgeois, I., et Maltais, S. (2022) American Journal of Evaluation, 44(3), 353-373
Evaluating the evaluators: What have we learned from "neutral assessments" of the Canadian federal evaluation function? Bourgeois, I., & Maltais, S. (2022) Canadian Public Administration, 65(1), February, 122-143
Neutral assessment of the National Research Council Evaluation Function Fraser, M., Tremblay, G., Bourgeois, I., & Lahey, R.E. (2013) Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 28(2), 85-96