Factors influencing the choice of methods in federal evaluation practice

A critical historical review of the tensions in American governance places the method choice debate in a broader perspective. This chapter reviews the factors that influence the evaluation questions posed to evaluators and, in turn, the methods choices that stem from it. Political and professional pressures on the evaluators also influence methods choice. Flexibility in methods is considered essential for the evaluator to design a study that considers both the context and the specifics of the question.