Evaluation is dynamic process which allows to formulate a value-based assessment on a project or a policy (designed, in course of implementation or already realized) and its results.
Evaluation activities realized by Istituto Italiano di Valutazione aim at:
- Supporting the project design through a field analysis in order to identify and define the problems that the service, project or policy is targeting (ex-ante evaluation);
- Identifying the strengths as well as the criticalities encountered during the implementation of the actions in the territories interested by the projects and suggesting functional recommendations in order to improve the action process (in-itinere evaluation);
- Estimating the degree of achievement of expected results and of specific objectives (result evaluation);
- Estimating the achievement of the project’s overall goal and the observed changes in the context of intervention (impact evaluation).
The evaluation of projects and services is mainly realized through:
- Qualitative inquiries which resort to individual or group interviews or to other methods of explication (world cafè, NGT, etc.);
- Quantitative inquiries which resort to the selection of trial and control groups and the submission of questionnaires, tests, narrative forms;
- Fulfilment of panels of indicators;
- Auditing.