Between Dec 19, 2024 and Jan 2, 2025, datasets can be submitted to DRUM but will not be processed until after the break. Staff will not be available to answer email during this period, and will not be able to provide DOIs until after Jan 2. If you are in need of a DOI during this period, consider Dryad or OpenICPSR. Submission responses to the UDC may also be delayed during this time.
 

Exploring the Ecology of Evaluation Contract Work in the United States: Implications for Industry

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Persistent link to this item

Statistics
View Statistics

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Title

Exploring the Ecology of Evaluation Contract Work in the United States: Implications for Industry

Published Date

2023-04

Publisher

Type

Thesis or Dissertation

Abstract

While evaluators have provided goods and services to U.S. states and the federal government for decades, little is known about how the market’s demand-driven nature impacts evaluation practice. This study explored the likelihood evaluation firms and universities acquired newly funded evaluation-specific contracts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) each fiscal year (FY) between FY 2008-2022, some of the factors that influenced the likelihood a firm or university acquired new HHS evaluation contracts, external research and evaluation providers’ perceptions of the federal evaluation contracts landscape, and the ways external research and evaluation providers positioned themselves within the federal evaluation market to compete for resources. Contracts data from USAspending.gov and semi-structured interviews with 11 practicing evaluators and researchers were used to explicate the demand-driven nature of external evaluation contract work in the U.S. Contracts data focused on the composition of evaluators (i.e., organizational size, type, niche) and length of time in the HHS arena between FY 2008-2022. Interview data focused on practicing evaluators’ perceptions of external environmental factors in the market—including changes in presidential administrations, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and George Floyd’s murder—in relation to their practice. Study results suggest that not small firms are more likely than small firms or universities to acquire new HHS contracts. Interviewee perceptions did not necessarily align with the literature; a few evaluators, all specializing in disability and special education-related work, described how changes in presidential administrations did not have a major impact on the number or types of federal contracts made available over the years. Discussions on the increase in work related to economic, health, and racial disparities; experiences with demand-side barriers to embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in research and evaluation; their organization’s niche, size, and type; and the need to build internal organizational capacity were all framed in the context of needing to be responsive to funder (i.e., state and federal government) demands. Overall, this research provides a glimpse into the marketplace conditions and structures for contractual evaluative work in the United States and the implications such structure poses for the evaluation industry.

Description

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. April 2023. Major: Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Advisor: David Johnson. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 177 pages.

Related to

Replaces

License

Collections

Series/Report Number

Funding information

Isbn identifier

Doi identifier

Previously Published Citation

Other identifiers

Suggested citation

Verhoye, Alexandra. (2023). Exploring the Ecology of Evaluation Contract Work in the United States: Implications for Industry. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/259663.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.