This paper is available as a pdf. It should be cited as follows: Garcia, M. (2011): Micro-Methods in Evaluating Governance Interventions. Evaluation Working Papers. Bonn: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung.
The aim of this paper is to present a guide to impact evaluation methodologies currently used in the field of governance. It provides an overview of a range of evaluation techniques – focusing specifically on experimental and quasi-experimental designs. It also discusses some of the difficulties associated with the evaluation of governance programmes and makes suggestions with the aid of examples from other sectors. Although it is far from being a review of the literature on all governance interventions where rigorous impact evaluation has been applied, it nevertheless seeks to illustrate the potential for conducting such analyses.
This paper has been produced by Melody Garcia, economist at the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, DIE). It is a part of a two-year research project on methodological issues related to evaluating budget support funded by the BMZ’s evaluation division. The larger aim of the project is to contribute to the academic debate on methods of policy evaluation and to the development of a sound and theoretically grounded approach to evaluation. Further studies are envisaged.