VALUES AND MONITORING

Performance Monitoring and EvaluationCollege of Public and Community Service

University of Massachusetts at Boston©2006, William Holmes

PRIMARY PURPOSES

• Assessing merit/worth of staff/program

• Describing program, personnel, organization

• Documenting oversight, compliance, accountability

• Building knowledge• Advancing theory

VALUES ISSUES: PART 1

• Ranking Problems, Wishes, Needs• Prioritizing Services• Outcomes emphasized• Process versus Results• Criteria used: satisfaction, behavior,

standard• Dualisms versus Continua

VALUES ISSUES: PART 2

• Principles/ethics emphasized– Equity– Equality– Empowerment– Satisficing– Optimizing

VALUES ISSUES: PART 3

• Balancing competing needs• Balancing competing interests• Use of Democratic or Hierarchical controls• Focus on Total, Average, or Extreme

Results• Focus on Need versus Benefits

CAUSAL ASSUMPTIONS

• Causes versus Beliefs• Causes as Intervention Points• Causes as Ideology• Causes as Policy• Competition of Causes

CAUSAL ISSUES

• Choice of Causes• Choice of Interventions• Connection Between Intervention

and Results• Expected Results• Assessment of Results

ROLE OF VALUES: Part 1

• Based on Social Betterment• Not Personal or Political Self-Interest• Ethical versus Political Correctness• Individual versus Social Responsibility

ROLE OF VALUES: PART 2

• Value Neutrality versus Advocacy• Conservation versus Change• Restoration versus Progress• Private Matters versus Social Problems• Cooptation versus Collaboration

VALUES AND PURPOSE : ASSESSING MERIT

• Assessing Goal Progress• Comparing Net Effects• Value Assessment of Results• Causal Assessment• Comparing Conflicting Values

VALUES AND PURPOSE : PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT

• Comparing to Standards• Comparing Net Effects• Value Based Improvement• Strengthening vs. Weakening• Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

VALUES AND PURPOSE : OVERSIGHT AND COMPLIANCE

• Implementation Plans• Ethical and Professional Standards• Laws and Regulations• Reasonable Expectations

VALUES AND PURPOSE : KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT

• Results of Actions• Assessing Causal Assumptions• Developing Methodology for Social

Betterment• Theory Testing• Interesting Description

THEORY AND SOCIAL BETTERMENT

• Power Elite Theory—monitoring as justification or criticism

• Interest Group Theory—competing groups, competing values, competing outcomes

• Normative Theory—majority rule, public deliberation, open to reconsideration