Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of RIV Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione (48/2010)

Redazionale

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Valutare nella crisi: effetti sull'Università e la ricerca

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Reale Emanuela, Pennisi Carlo

Nuovi ruoli della valutazione delle politiche pubbliche per ricerca e innovazione: oggetti, effetti, metodi, dati

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Bonaccorsi Andrea
The paper discusses the idea that the evaluation of public policies is witnessing a remarkable enlargement of its domain, in four relevant dimensions- its object, effect, methods, and data. Regarding the objects of evaluation, policy makers are increasingly interested not only in the evaluation of the content of policies (output) or the result (outcome), but also on a broader notion of impact, which includes direct and indirect effects, on the sub-system under analysis and on society at large. Regarding the effects of policies, the paper calls the attention on the rising of the notion of conditionality, requiring more flexible and sophisticated approaches for in itinere evaluation. With respect to new methods, the paper discusses new developments in counterfactual methods, robust nonparametric approaches (robust and conditional), as well as methods to deal with non commensurable indicators. Finally, the implications for evaluation of policies of the availability of microdata from public sources are examined. In all these devekopments new challenges are identified, calling for advanced methodological and quantitative work.

Tecniche di valutazione e caratteristiche istituzionali dell'autonomia universitaria

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Vecchio Giuseppe
Evaluation has always bee a particularly significant aspect of university life. University is the place where research evaluation is produced as well as evaluation of the eligibility of scientists to teaching and research activities supported and oriented by social institutions. Evaluating activities are therefore essential to life and continuity of higher education system and research training. At present, traditional mechanisms of evaluation, based on self-autonomy and academic self-government, are at a critical point. New tools are actually used to ensure higher levels of objectivity and more opportunities for research comparison and legitimacy of researchers devoted to it. In this paper I offer a comment on the possibility of introducing quantitative evaluation methods or qualitative, individual and responsive methods for the formulation of reviews.

Qualità e disponibilità dei dati sulla ricerca: l'archivio istituzionale fra intenzioni e realtà

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Galimberti Paola
Research assessment is going to play a new role in the governance of universities and research institutions. Evaluation of results is evolving from a simple tool for resource allocation towards policy design. In this respect "measuring" implies a different approach to quantitative aspects as well as to an estimation of qualitative criteria that are difficult to define. Bibliometrics became so popular, in spite of its limits, just offering a simple solution to complex problems. The theory behind it is not so robust but available results confirm this method as a reasonable trade off between costs and benefits. Indeed there are some fields of science where quantitative indicators are very difficult to apply due to the lack of databases and data, in few words the credibility of existing information. The University of Milan started in 2004 an institutional repository which contains the scientific production (bibliographic metadata and full-text if possible) of all researchers in all research fields. The present work describes the results of two assessment exercises performed on the basis of the data of this institutional repository. The results of the internal exercises are quite satisfying. Indeed they have emphasized some problems but they have already been solved. There is a problem of comparability at national level due to the lack of reliable databases that could be solved by a widespread adoption of institutional repositories.

Valutazione e formazione alla ricerca: la via della riflessività

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Pastore Serafina
New evaluation practices, designed to explore the institutional reforms, seem to distinguish the current Italian University system. The principle of teaching and academic freedom has induced a clear privatization of education and research, fostering a debate focused mostly on immediate resolution of evaluation with a clear production of not relevant models and approaches. This article focuses on the evaluation of research training (PhD courses). It is clear how sophisticated methods and forms of evaluation can fall into a burocratic evaluation; an apparent evaluation, which has no effect real and tangible learning and development.

L’utilizzo di tecniche partecipate e del contributo degli stakeholder per valutare la variazione della qualità della vita nelle aree rurali interessate dal programma di sviluppo (PSR 2007/2013). Impostazione e prime applicazioni

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

de Sanctis Cinzia, de Sanctis Matteo, Lucia Minerva Maria, Tenna Fabrizio, Torcia Paola
The article describes the methodology set by Agriconsulting in 2007-2013 Rural Development Plans (RDPs) evaluations, in order to fit the mandate of the Common monitoring and evaluation framework (CMEF) regarding the assessment of European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) contribution in enhancing quality of life in rural areas. The methodology - still at an implementing stage - uses expert judgment evaluation techniques in order to register at different time point the stakeholders perceptions among 25 indicators referred to the concept of quality of life, measured in pilot areas. These indicators has been detected by the evaluation team on the basis of RDPs contents and specific literature on quality of life measurement. The 25 indicators cover, as a matter of fact, all the possible dimensions, those which are directly influenced by the RDPs and the ones which can be influenced by other policies. Stakeholders perceptions are gathered at the beginning of program implementation - in order to measure on those pilot areas the ex ante quality of life baseline indicator - and at a more advance stage of implementation - 2 up to 3 years - in order to detect any temporal change. The effects of RDPs intervention among the 25 indicators performance will be investigated for the ex post evaluation by combining statistical and expert judgment techniques.

L'applicazione delle metodologie proposte dal manuale del Quadro Comune di Monitoraggio e Valutazione (QCMV) alla Valutazione dei Programmi di Sviluppo Rurale 2007-2013: limiti attuali e spunti di riflessione per il futuro

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Ricciardulli Nicoletta, Tenna Fabrizio
The Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) defines evaluation as a "process of judgment of interventions according to their results, impacts and the needs they aim to satisfy" Inside this paradigm, indicators are set in rural development legislation in order to assess, through their measurement, the efficiency and effectiveness of rural development plans related to their objectives. The article focuses on the monitoring and evaluation mechanism set by the Commission for the evaluation of rural development plans, by analyzing the consequences of this architecture with respect to the role which indicators plays for evaluation and programming. A potential short circuit may occur when program indicators choice requests target fixation through low consistent estimate, and evaluation is bounded to the performance assessment with respect to low consistent targets. The authors illustrates with examples the methodological implications and suggest an exit strategy for the next programming period.

Dalla matrice dei dati all'analisi trivariata (a cura di Enrico Todini)

Mon, 15 Jan 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Di Franco Giovanni