The professionalization of evaluation and the need for educational programs and accreditation has taken on increasing importance in Canada over the 2000s. Central to these issues is the need to understand the nature of the evaluation industry, both from the “supply” and “demand” side. While there have been fragmented discussions about the nature of evaluation in the federal government (e.g., Lahey, 2010; Segsworth, 2005) and the provinces and territories (e.g., Gauthier et al., 2009), there remains a dearth of information about the nature and behavior of the evaluation industry in Canada as a whole. This chapter offers an exploratory investigation into the evaluation industry in Canada, examining both the demand and the supply side, along with a historical context that serves as a backdrop in understanding the current structure of the Canadian industry. The study examines how various factors affect market behavior, and reflects on considerations for the future of the Canadian evaluation industry.
Evidence-based decision-making and managing for results are terms often heard from politicians and senior government officials at both federal and provincial levels of government in Canada. But, while there is some level of understanding at the federal level in terms of the role and use of evaluation in measuring results, there is significantly less information readily available about the extent that evaluation is being used at other levels of government. This paper provides a cross-Canada synopsis on the capacity and use of systematic evaluation at the provincial and territorial levels of government. Authors from each of the ten provinces and two of the three territories provide a succinct analysis of the extent that evaluation is being used in their provincial government, as well as a description of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for evaluation. There is a paucity of published information on this subject, but the paper uses research conducted in 2001 as a benchmark to compare the state of affairs for evaluation within provincial/territorial governments. With limited progress over the past two decades, the paper offers an overview of findings and some proposed actions for the way ahead.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.