Theory amidst complexity – using process tracing in ex-post evaluations

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Theory amidst complexity – using process tracing in ex-post evaluations
Abstract
Evaluators who take a complexity-aware approach must consider tradeoffs related to theoretical parsimony, falsifiability, and measurement validity. These tradeoffs may be particularly pronounced with ex-post evaluation designs in which program theory development and monitoring frameworks are often completed before the evaluator is engaged. In this chapter, we argue that theory-based evaluation (TBE) approaches can address unique ex-post evaluation challenges that complexity-aware evaluation (CAE) alone cannot, and that these two sets of approaches are complimentary. We will outline strategies that evaluators may use to conduct rigorous ex-post evaluations of democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) interventions that merge CAE's inductive approaches with a theory-testing structure. It will illustrate these strategies with two case studies of ex-post evaluation using process tracing (PT).
Publication
New Directions for Evaluation
Volume
2022
Issue
176
Pages
119-128
Date
2022
Language
en
ISSN
1534-875X
Accessed
13/04/2023, 09:21
Library Catalogue
Wiley Online Library
Citation
Krueger, K., & Wright, M. (2022). Theory amidst complexity – using process tracing in ex-post evaluations. New Directions for Evaluation, 2022(176), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.20524