Evaluation of Public Policies

Indicative content

The course is based on the acquisition of practical knowledge in the field of public policy evaluation, with emphasis on support programs. Through management of their own evaluation project, the student will learn the basics of the support evaluation system - reasons for evaluation, evaluation theory, evaluation criteria, evaluation principles. The object of evaluation are development processes - support programs, legislative and other public policy measures.
Students will gain knowledge of methods and techniques for evaluating results, outputs and impacts of support for regional development. Through the course, students will gain practical skills
in the evaluation of support processes, on the basis of which they will be able to critically evaluate the effectiveness, effectivity and relevance of the policy or its support and to draw conclusions for
political practice. Brief syllabus:
1. Introduction to the evaluation of public policies.
2. Definitions of basic terms. Basic aspects of evaluation, evaluation criteria.
3. Defining the research (evaluation) question, determining the goal of the evaluation.
4. Data and methods of data collection.
5. Characteristics of support. Support system.
6. Analysis of support.
7. Methods and techniques of evaluation of development support and their classification.
8. Characteristics of selected evaluation methods and their practical use.
9. Real examples of evaluation.
10. Visit of experts from evaluation practice, practical aspects of evaluation in Slovakia.
11. Interpretation of evaluation results.
12. Drawing conclusions of the evaluation, Discussion. Critical conclusions.
13. Presentations of projects of students with posters.