Evaluating Development Programs

Economic development programs are characterized as more complex and less well understood than typical Extension undertakings. However, the concept of evaluation is little different in purpose or need from any educational or action program. The differences between evaluating economic development and typical extension programs are mainly in methods of collecting information, the added difficulty of measuring changes, and the hazards of drawing inferences. A more important difference is the limited substantive base for evaluating economic development programs-it is not so easy to conduct controlled experimentation as the basis for substantive content as it is with the physical and biological sciences (the foundation of much of Extension's program content). Evaluation of existing programs is the primary source of knowledge in economic development.