Program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer basic questions about projects, policies and programs[1]. Program evaluation is used in the public and private sector and is taught in numerous universities. Evaluation became particularly relevant in the U.S. in the 1960s during the period of the Great Society social programs associated with the Kennedy and Johnson administrations[2][3]. Extraordinary sums were invested in social programs, but the impacts of these investments were largely unknown.
Program evaluations can involve quantitative methods of social research or qualitative methods or both. People who do program evaluation come from many different backgrounds: sociology, psychology, economics, social work. Some graduate schools also have specific training programs for program evaluation.
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