Department of Social & Policy Sciences, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
SP20010 Social policy evaluation |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Intermediate |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: CW 100% |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take SP10001 and take SP10002 |
|
Aims:
The aims of the unit are to:
i Develop an understanding of the principal approaches to social policy evaluation.
ii Develop the capacity to apply appropriately these approaches to policy examples.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit the students should be able to: * Understand the strategic and political dimensions of social policy evaluation; * Compare and contrast the strengths of the different approaches and their uses in different settings; * Design an evaluation project; * Write a project report. Skills: * To think creatively and analytically; * To communicate an argument; * To evaluate others' arguments and research; * To learn independently and be able to assess own learning needs (i.e. identify strengths and improve weaknesses in methods of learning and studying); * To critically evaluate and assess research and evidence as well as a variety of other information; * To gather information, data, research and literature from a number of different sources (i.e. library, web-based, archives etc.); * To select appropriate and relevant information from a wide source and large body of knowledge; * To synthesise information from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding; * To utilise problem solving skills; * Study & Learning skills (note taking, avoiding plagiarism, using the library, gathering and using information, constructing a bibliography, referencing); * Basic Information and Computing Technology skills (word processing, email, using the web to search for information); * Inter-personal and communication skills; * Essay research, preparation and writing skills; * To construct a bibliography of varying complexity; * Revision and Examination skills; * Time-management and administrative skills; * Presentation skills and verbal communication (i.e. oral presentations, seminar and tutorial contributions); * Advanced information and computing technology skills (i.e. SPSS and other forms of computer based data analysis programmes, producing tables, spreadsheets, graphs and charts, Powerpoint, using IT to support presentations); * To reflect upon his/her own academic and professional performance and take responsibility for personal and professional learning and development; * To solve problems in a variety of situations; * To manage time effectively and respond to changing demands; * To prioritise workloads, and utilise long- and short-term planning skills; * To understand career opportunities and challenges ahead and begin to plan a career path. Content: What is evaluation and why evaluate? Evaluation methodology; Effectiveness, efficiency and economy; Performance indicators, outcomes and quality assessment; Illuminative evaluation; The evaluation of innovation; The politics and organisation of evaluation; Learning through experience. |