Understanding the use of IT evaluation methods in organisations.

This thesis explores the apparent paradox of information technology (IT) evaluation methods not being broadly employed despite their seemingly innate qualities of assisting organisations in improving their management of IT costs and benefits. This is paradoxical since a multitude of evaluation methods exist and both academic and professional literature argue that their use will lead to beneficial effects. The thesis aims to deepen understanding of the employment process of IT evaluation methods in organisations. Building on diffusion theory and actor-network theory (ANT), it is an in-depth case study of the employment process of an IT evaluation method at a Dutch insurance company. The diffusion theory is a good initial candidate for understanding the phenomenon of underutilisation, but fails to unravel the paradox. An ANT analysis suggests that during a process of mutual translation both the evaluation method and its surrounding actors enter into a dynamic negotiation mutually translating each other. The evaluation method is appropriated by its surrounding actors in a black-boxing attempt. These actors capitalise on weaknesses in the method's inscriptions, increase their strength and follow anti-programs. The method also appropriates these surrounding actors, assigning them new roles (changing their work processes, responsibilities and prerogatives) and moving them to new positions in the actor-network. The resulting employment process has emergent properties and is characterised by improvisation rather than blue-print planning. When employed, the method is unlikely to resemble its initially planned outcome. The origin of the paradox is based on the assumptions that evaluation methods are neutral and have innate qualities and that their employment proceeds according to planned outcomes. This thesis undermines the paradox by arguing that a limited understanding of evaluation methods and unrealistic assumptions about evaluation employment are why such methods do not manifest their expected employment

What does it Cost to Access Justice in Canada? How Much is “Too Much”? And How do we Know? Literature Review

Barriers to accessing justice are a serious social concern. It is widely understood among those who work within the justice system, litigants and the general public, that cost is a barrier to accessing justice. Cost was raised as a concern by every litigant who participated in the Civil Justice System and the Public project

The costs and benefits of training within the police service of Northern Ireland

This Thesis is concerned with developing a model of costs and benefits of training for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). It is about the economics of Police Training, however it is intended that the end result will provide a model for use by non-economists. It is intended to provide a formula for use by those who practice planning, decision-making and management every day in our organisation. These people have responsibility for solving a most crucial problem in training: how to decide on good quality and relevant training interventions within limited resources. This study was seeking to discover a systematic process to help decision-makers see the various options and trade-offs available to them more clearly, and assess their relative merits and feasibility. It provides a model of Costs and Benefits, which includes three systems. An Awareness System that sets out the culture and understanding of the organisation so that the costs and benefits of training can be identified. The second system is the Operational System, this is the doing phase of the model and where the PSNI must identify the needs, identify how to achieve the training outputs and so deliver a quality product. The product must be fully evaluated to test its value and worth. All of these sub-systems need to be costed under a standard costing process. Once this information is available it will be possible to assess the value of the training against the identified costs. As it is intended that this model will be of practical use within training in the PSNI the third system is the Monitor and Control System; this is the maintenance phase. It provides proper monitoring of activities in the other systems, clearly defined measures of success, and reviewing of the actions to ensure that the model is a living process, always trying to develop and improve

Information Markets, Administrative Decisionmaking, and Predictive Cost-Benefit Analysis

FutureMAP, a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was to involve experiments to determine whether information markets could improve Defense Department decisionmaking. Information markets are securities markets used to derive information from the prices of securities whose liquidation values are contingent on future events. The government intended to use such a market to assess the probabilities of potential political assassinations, and the indelicacy of this potential application contributed to a controversy leading to the cancellation of the program. In this Article, Professor Abramowicz assesses whether information markets in theory could be useful to administrative agencies, and it concludes that information markets could help discipline administrative agency predictions, but only if a number of technical hurdles such as the danger of manipulation can be overcome. Because the predictions of well-functioning information markets are objective, they function as a tool that exhibits many of the same virtues in predictive tasks that cost-benefit analysis offers for normative policy evaluation. Both approaches can help to overcome cognitive errors, thwart interest group manipulation, and discipline administrative agency decisionmaking. The Article suggests that the two forms of analysis might be combined to produce a predictive cost-benefit analysis. In such an analysis, an information market would predict the outcome of a retrospective cost-benefit analysis, to be conducted some years after the decision whether to enact a particular policy. As long as the identity of the eventual decisionmaker cannot be anticipated, predictive cost-benefit analysis estimates how an average decisionmaker would be expected to evaluate the policy. Because the predictive cost-benefit analysis assessment is not dependent on the identity of current agency officials, they cannot shade the numbers to justify policies that the officials prefer for idiosyncratic or ideological reasons

Handbook for Learning-centred evaluation of Computer-facilitated learning projects in higher education

This handbook supports a project funded by the Australian Government Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development (CUTSD). The amended project title is “Staff Development in Evaluation of Technology-based Teaching Development Projects: An Action Inquiry Approach”. The project is hosted by Murdoch University on behalf of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), as a consortium of 11 universities. The rationale of the project is to guide a group of university staff through the evaluation of a Computer-facilitated Learning (CFL1) project by a process of action inquiry and mentoring, supported by the practical and theoretical material contained in this handbook

Impact Evaluations and Development: Nonie Guidance on Impact Evaluation

In international development, impact evaluation is principally concerned with final results of interventions (programs, projects, policy measures, reforms) on the welfare of communities, households, and individuals, including taxpayers and voters. Impact evaluation is one tool within the larger toolkit of monitoring and evaluation (including broad program evaluations, process evaluations, ex ante studies, etc.).The Network of Networks for Impact Evaluation (NONIE) was established in 2006 to foster more and better impact evaluations by its membership -- the evaluation networks of bilateral and multilateral organizations focusing on development issues, as well as networks of developing country evaluators. NONIE's member networks conduct a broad set of evaluations, examining issues such as project and strategy performance, institutional development, and aid effectiveness. By sharing methodological approaches and promoting learning by doing on impact evaluations, NONIE aims to promote the use of this more specific approach by its members within their larger portfolio of evaluations. This document, by Frans Leeuw and Jos Vaessen, has been developed to support this focus.For development practitioners, impact evaluations play a keyrole in the drive for better evidence on results and development effectiveness. They are particularly well suited to answer important questions about whether development interventions do or do not work, whether they make a difference, and how cost-effective they are. Consequently, they can help ensure that scarce resources are allocated where they can have the most developmental impact

How EHS managers can influence environmental excellence within their organization

The objective of this work is to evaluate the various management styles and systems applicable to the Environmental, Health, and Safety (\u27EHS\u27) profession; furthermore, it will present ways in which managers will discover how to understand and evaluate projects from a \u27business\u27 point of view, allowing them to compete within their organization for capital and human resources. ... This paper will also discuss various evaluations used to ensure proper buy-in from management -- a process that will facilitate the allocation of human and financial resources to environment, health, and safety projects. The evaluation will focus on two primary elements. The first will be a literature review of established EHS management systems, presented in order to illustrate a basic understanding of associated management risks, recognized procedures, and observation techniques. The second element will confirm the efficacy of a new management concept and applicable management techniques. In this phase, it will analyze EHS programs and how they should be structured to facilitate these new techniques

Psychology and the research enterprise: Moving beyond the enduring hegemony of positivism

Almost since its inception, psychology has embraced the positivist orientation of the natural sciences. The research enterprise in psychology has reinforced this through its insistence that psychological science is objective, generalisable, and value free (or neutral). Consequently, experimental designs are privileged over other forms of enquiry and alternate epistemologies, methodologies, and methods remain marginalised within the discipline. We argue that alternate methodologies, and the philosophies that underpin the research endeavour, should be included in mainstream psychology programmes so that the existing imbalance is rectified. Achieving this balance will mean that psychology will be better positioned to address applied research problems and students will graduate with the skills and knowledge that they will need in the multidisciplinary workforce they will enter. We discuss recommendations for how psychology in Australia can move towards embracing methodological and epistemological pluralism. Breen, L. & Darlaston-Jones, D. (2008). Psychology and the research enterprise: Moving beyond the enduring hegemony of positivism. Australian Journal of Psychology, 60 (S1), 107-208. doi:10.1080/0004953080238555