Quality Matters

Robert Schwartz is senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Haifa. His articles have appeared in Journal of Public Administration, Research and Theory, and Journal of Public Policy, among others. John Mayne is an independent consultant, who, until recently, was at the Office of the Auditor General where he led efforts at developing practices for effective performance measurement, managing for results, and performance reporting in the government of Canada. He has authored numerous articles and edited five books in the areas of program evaluation, public administration, and performance monitoring.

Introduction 1. Assuring the Quality of Evaluative Information 1 John Moyne and Robert Schwartz Part 1: Evaluation 2. Devising and Using Evaluation Standards: 21 The French Paradox Jean-Claude Barbier 3. Instruments and Procedures for Assuring 41 Evaluation Quality: A Swiss Perspective Thomas Widmer 4. Triple Check for Top Quality or Triple Burden? 69 Assessing EU Evaluations Jaques Toulemonde, Hilkka Summa-Pollitt, and Neil Usher 5. Quality of Evaluative Information at the World Bank 91 Patrick G. Gras so 6. The Netherlands Court of Audit and Meta-Research: 113 Principles and Practice Andrea Kraan and Helenne van Adrichem 1. Auditing the Evaluation Function in Canada 129 Bob Segsworth and Stellina Volpe 8. Guidelines and Standards: Assuring the Quality 145 of Evaluation and Audit Practice by Instruction M. L Bemelmans-Videc Part 2: Performance Audits 9. “Neat and Tidy.. .and 100% Correct”: Assuring the 173 Quality of Supreme Audit Institution Performance Audit Work Jeremy Lonsdale and John Mayne. Part 3: Performance Reports 10. Professionals, Self-Evaluation, and Information 199 in the UK: The Higher Education Research Assessment Exercise and Clinical Governance Andrew Gray and Bill Jenkins 11. Decentralization Does Not Mean Poor Data Quality: 215 A Case Study from the U.S. Department of Education Alan L Ginsburg and Natalia Pane 12. “Believe it or not?”: The Emergence of 237 Performance Information Auditing John Mayne and Peter Wilkins 13. How Supreme Audit Institutions Help to Assure 261 the Quality of Performance Reporting to Legislatures Stan Divorski 14. Assessment of Performance Reports: A Comparative 279 Perspective Richard Boyle Part 4: Conclusion 15. Does Quality Matter? Who Cares about the Quality 301 of Evaluative Information? Robert Schwartz and John Mayne.