Evaluations That Achieve Results: Many SPR studies
have significantly influenced programs and legislation, such as research on family-related work policies, which aided the introduction
of new parental leave provisions under EI in 2000; work in the area of occupational health and safety in Ontario (1984-1996); and
research on the Canada Pension Plan (1989-1996).
Key Evaluation Issues: Evaluations can help determine whether programs are
achieving their objectives and provide direction on how programs can be improved. Many of the evaluations which SPR has conducted
for Federal, Provincial and other agencies over the past 25+ years have enhanced or streamlined existing programs and provided improved
tools for managers. Evaluation studies conducted by SPR have:
- Measured results using administrative data, macro and micro-economic studies, surveys
and audits. Many SPR evaluations have developed new indicators of results
directly related to program goals;
- Assessed client and stakeholder satisfaction through the use of client satisfaction surveys (for example,
SPR's surveys of users of federal information clearinghouses);
- Identified economic and social impacts using experimental, longitudinal and
"after-the-fact" designs, such as SPR's analysis of macro-economic factors
affecting public use of the Canada Pension Plan (Disability) in the 1980's and 1990's;
- Evaluated cost-effectiveness in program funding, Federal-Provincial-Municipal
cost-sharing agreements;
- Evaluated horizontal programs (interdepartmental initiatives), such as the Federal Contractor's Program (HRDC),
which covers nearly all Federal agencies; and
- Recommended alternative program approaches and strategies for program delivery, and
needs for programs and services.
Methodologies: SPR evaluations have identified strategies to improve the cost-effectiveness and
impact of programs in business and the human services, and have included such varied methodologies
as:
- Descriptive studies of
programs: examining formal and operational views of programs; reviewing
program goals and objectives as seen by different stakeholders; or providing
analyses of services;
- Case studies: providing an overview of specific cases, such as an occupational health
and safety program in a particular industrial facility, or operations of a Native Friendship
Centre;
- Client surveys: assessing client views of and satisfaction with programs, or determining
client priorities for program improvements; and
- Multi-variate analyses of program impacts: comparing the impacts of programs (for example,
through "quasi-experimental" designs), or assessing mediating impacts of participant
characteristics (such as the way firm size or export experience mediate the impact of Federal export
support programs).