Public policy evaluation is generally subject to various forms of self-regulation. In
different countries and organisations, evaluation adopts rules and precepts generically termed
"codes".
The first approved evaluation code was issued by the United States Joint Committee for
Educational Evaluation in 1981 (with an update in 1994), and has remained a widely influential
historic benchmark.
Codes are also commonly termed “principles”, “standards” and
"guidelines”. Each term has slightly different nuances:
- Principles: Principles concern both the conduct of evaluators and the attributes (specified
in less detail than in standards) to which an evaluation must conform. This is the term used by the
United States and French evaluation societies and by the OECD.
- Standards: These documents state the specifications a good evaluation should meet.
Standards are more detailed than principles. This is the term used by the Joint Committee, the
German and Swiss evaluation societies and the UN.
- Guidelines: These are prescriptions on how to comply with principles and standards. This is
the term used by the evaluation societies of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, African countries,
Australasian countries, and the United National Development Programme (UNDP).
Besides its own evaluation standards, the UN also uses documents termed “norms”,
such as Norms for Evaluation in the UN System, 2005.
Some of the major current evaluation codes are:
European evaluation societies
- Guidelines for Good Practice in Evaluation. United Kingdom Evaluation Society. United
Kingdom. 2003
- Evaluation Standards. German Evaluation Society (Degeval). Germany. 2001.
- Evaluation Standards. Swiss Evaluation Society. Switzerland. 2001
- Linee Guida per un Codice Deontologico del Valutatore. Associazione Italiana di
Valutazione. Italy.
- La Charte de l´évaluation des politiques publiques et des programmes publics. Société
française de l’évaluation. France. 2006.
Other countries’ evaluation societies
- Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Evaluations. 2002. Code of Ethics. 2000. Australasian
Evaluation Society. Australia-New Zealand
- The African Evaluation Guidelines. African Evaluation Association. Several countries.
2002
- Guidelines for Ethical Conduct /Lignes directrices de la SEÉ en matière d’éthique.
Canadian Evaluation Society. 1996
- Guiding Principles for Evaluators. American Evaluation Association. United States. 2004
- Program Evaluation Standards. 1994. Personnel Evaluation Standards. 1988. Joint Committee
for Educational Evaluation. Western Michigan University. United States
Michigan University. EE.UU.
Institutions
- Evaluating EU Activities: A Practical Guide for the Commission Services. Comisión Europea.
Dirección General de Presupuestos. 2004
- Review of the DAC[1] Principles for Evaluation of Development Assistance. 1998. DAC Evaluation
Quality Standards (test phase) 2006.OCDE
- Norms for Evaluation in the UN System. ONU. 2005. Standards for Evaluation in the UN System
United Nations Evaluation Group. ONU.2005
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[1]Development Assistance Committee. OCDE
