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This paper addresses non-academic training in evaluation with a twofold perspective. The first one will focus on the reconstruction of a map of the existing training offer in Italy. This map, updated at September 2022, will propose an overview of the existing courses in terms of both main features (e.g.: duration, structure, providers) and macro-contents. The second perspective will match the results of this analysis with the profile, overall and by competences, of the Expert in Evaluation of Policies, Programmes, Projects and Institutions as defined by the Italian Evaluation Society (A.I.V.). This match intends to explore the correspondence between the courses and the A.I.V. proposal. In such a way, an attempt will be made, on the one hand, to contextualize the courses with respect to A.I.V. evaluator's profile and competences and, on the other hand, to do the same with A.I.V. profile in relation to evaluation courses. Finally, some recommendations will be proposed on the basis of the evidence produced by the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the paper is to address and explore a much-debated issue within the evaluation community: the idea of "democratic evaluation". What exactly is meant by this term? When can an evaluation be said to be democratic? Through the adoption of what behaviours should this ideal translate into concrete working practice? The essay aims to contribute to broadening the community's debate on these questions, which are central at a historical-political moment such as the post-emergence from Covid-19 and in the midst of an international crisis, that between Russia and Ukraine, which calls democratic evaluation into question in our country. On a general level, in fact, the situation of uncertainty due to the unpredictable effects of the pandemic, the social and economic crisis in the country and the consequent growing distrust of the citizens towards the administration seem to have increased the demand for accountability, leading to talk, as in the rest of Europe as well, of a "democratic deficit". On the other hand, recent administrative re-centralization, even assisted by current evaluative practices, only aggravates the inefficiency of public administration. Accountability, freedom and democracy are never given, they need to be defended, always regained: evaluation assumes a strategic role to this end; it can help bring citizens closer to public administration. The crisis between Russia and Ukraine is changing geopolitical balances; the effects of the war economy, inflation, the energy crisis, and the possible escalation of the conflict add to the uncertain situation due to the pandemic. New inequalities and an increase in poverty threaten to generate deep rifts in the country's socioeconomic fabric. Systemic shocks add to chronic problems: a demographic collapse, stagnation, job insecurity, and a lag in digitization. At the same time, the political system fails to represent and stabilize consensus over time. Governments also suffer from this instability, with the inability to design and implement structural reforms for the country, including that of the bureaucracy. Social complexity, chronic problems and systemic shocks, require the ability to apply effective public policies. State intervention and the ability of the bureaucracy to be efficient and responsive to social change are central issues for the health of democracy. Public policies move within a framework of very high complexity, in which the role of evaluation emerges, which should tend to the development of democratic accountability, illuminating decision-making choices through its methodological rigor, analytical capacity and scientific knowledge. The essay thus aims to address the potential of a democratic evaluation that can broaden the number of stakeholders, the field of values that are taken into account, the repertoire of research methods, the field of interest of policies, and the very definition of the objects of evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Percorsi is a matched savings program aimed at helping students from low-income households attend college. Previous experimental research has demonstrated the positive effects of the program on college enrollment and persistence. This paper investigates the extent to which these experimental results are attributable to the applied targeting strategy: students were admitted to the study through a targeting mechanism based on household income and on a predictive model of university enrollment probability. Applicants with a very high predicted university enrollment probability and those who revealed no intention of going to university were excluded from the program. The authors assess the performance of this approach by comparing cost-effectiveness estimates against simulated scenarios, showing that both the implemented and a simplified targeting yield a cost-effectiveness gain over a no targeting scenario. The study makes the case for an increased use of prior knowledge and collaboration between researchers and program managers to enhance programs' cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has required new reflections on the evaluation of multi-dimensional programs aimed at multiple stakeholders. The traditional approach, based on the blueprint approach, resulted unsuitable for grasping the complexity of the new scenario, due to its focus on objectives achieved. This paper aims to describe the evaluation of two projects for the inclusion of marginalized young people, through the Positive Thinking lenses. In fact, it turned out to be the theoretical approach most capable of responding to the complexities that emerged in this peculiar historical period. The evaluation becomes useful for triggering improvement actions and for capturing the efforts of the organizations. The contribution intends to open the theoretical reflection on the complexity of the programs, and on the role of the evaluator in accompanying the organizations by supporting them, in order to develop effective actions for the beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a case study about integration of focus group and survey to listen teenagers and preteens in the participatory evaluation of a local educational project. The contribution discusses strengths and weaknesses of the focus group as a participatory instrument in the evaluation process and the integration with the survey. Furthermore, the authors reflect about possible ways to enhance the approach, starting from the Youth Participatory Evaluation model and focusing on the role of teenagers in different evaluation stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a reflection on the connection between social innovation-driven social design and social impact evaluation (SIE). The author argues for a cognitive and learning function of SIE that can be conducted through the choice of methods, approaches and tools that can capture and enhance the innovations introduced by the programs. To this end, the construction path of the research design of the "Ri-belli" project, funded by the "Educational Poverty Alleviation Fund", is presented. The intervention is representative of the renewed system of second welfare, marked by the involvement of the private social sector in the policy making process and the desire to disseminate evaluative practice in the social sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the reflexivity issue in scientific research practice. Starting from a theoretical reflection on the epistemological and methodological reasons listing reflexivity among the main practical issues of social and evaluative research, the contribution seeks to highlight how the sus-tainability of reflective research practices actually swings between adequacy and challenges. With particular reference to pragmatic approaches to knowledge, it is believed that the main elements that can undermine reflex-ivity are the contexts in which the investigation takes place and the language's indexicality. Finally, particular attention is paid to the transactional nature of the evaluative research in which contexts and languages constitute a mix of indisputable relevance, for its effectiveness and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the mixed methods approach and the evaluation field, with an overall look at the international social science area. Analysing a set of papers that make use of mixed methods, a reflection on the prevalence of the evaluation field is presented. Text analysis through the Structural Topic Model (STM) technique allows to extract topics from a corpus of documents. Findings show how the evaluation filed has a relevant role within the area of studies that use a mixed methods approach. Evaluation emerges indeed as a topic itself. Moreover, relationships among evaluation and other disciplinary fields wherein mixed methods are used can be highlighted. The overview presented in this study allows to look at trends within the mixed methods approach in social science and within evaluation, as well as intersections between the two areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformations characterizing the Italian university and research system reproduce a constant oscillation between autonomy and responsibility. A new pathway has been paved with the introduction of evaluation and the creation of an agency with a specific mandate for managing it, the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR). The process of institutional creation has given rise to a new postbureaucratic model, inspired by independence and professionalism principles. Specific organizational devices have been implemented to this aim, such as the appointment procedures of the agency's Governing Board as well as the introduction of a new officer profile, the technical officer for evaluation, working side by side administrative staff, to serve the evaluation scope. In this paper, the agency's organizational model will be analysed, together with the main characteristics and the principles of the agency in the framework of the Italian university and research system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper aims to introduce the reflection upon the Mixed Methods (MM) approach and evaluation research that will be attained in the following contributions. It is by now largely recognised how rarely a single evaluation strategy can fully capture the entire complexity of social phenomena happening in the "real" world. Nowadays, many recognise that combining different strategies and techniques within one evaluative process is more efficient than using conventional evaluation approaches with a single research strategy. This article recomposes the development of a need for a MM approach in Italy. Moreover, other papers in this special issue are briefly presented by identifying a common thread, represented by the reflection suggested in the paper by Jennifer Greene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we will address an aspect many have considered "exotic" in the evolving evaluation landscape. We are referring to the diverse world of Big Data (BD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which arguably represent one of the significant innovations in the field of evaluation and will likely continue to grow and evolve in the decades to come. We will discuss three specific aspects: 1) the opportunities and main uses that BD and AI offer to evaluation; 2) the challenges and risks that evaluation research and practice are facing concerning the 'new' availability of data and analysis methods not classically referable to the world of evaluators; 3) The state of diffusion in Italy of BD and AI in evaluation research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Digital Agenda represented a priority of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart growth of the European Union, towards the objectives of Europe 2030. The article outlines the regulatory framework on the digital strategy in Europe and Italy, proposing a theoretical-methodological discussion on the evaluation of policies on digitalization. The national results are presented in relation to the DESI INDEX, the main European tool for the observation of socio-cultural changes resulting from investments in digitalization, in the pre and post COVID period, discussing on the current state of evaluation practice in the implementation of Digital Agenda in Italy. The policy cycle outlined by the EU 2021-2027 programming and by the Recovery Plan on the topic of digital transition leads to a discussion of the main challenges of the evaluation practice, evidence of the structural complexity of the policies on digitization, stressing the need for multifocal and pluralistic evaluative perspectives of programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian public administration is confronted with two challenges peculiar to the current times, which share some common features: on the one hand, the use of ever-changing digital technologies; and, on the other hand, the role in social innovation processes involving multiple actors. In the first case, the emergence of public digital platforms calls for re-organization processes based on greater integration among internal departments, and stable relations between different administrative levels and between public and private actors. In the second case, the social demand for innovation in public services and policies leads to the development of ways of involving different actors in collaborative processes that are configured as innovation ecosystems. The thesis of this contribution underlines how the analysis of these modes of collaborative governance constitutes a relevant field for evaluation research, also because of the opportunity to integrate some significant elaborations developed by policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief review of the evaluation of development cooperation at the international level, the essay describes the Italian case, the evolution of the institutional structure dedicated to the evaluation of Italian development cooperation and the evaluation practices of Italian civil society organizations. The essay reports the experience of the Italian Evaluation Association's Thematic Group "Evaluating Development Cooperation". The Thematic Group was born in 2019 to stimulate a debate in Italy on evaluation theories and practices of international cooperation. The essay discusses the role of the GT in encouraging the consolidation of a culture of evaluation in the Italian system of cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the last 30 years of EU multiannual programming. The ultimate objective is to capture how the way of interpreting evaluation has changed during this long journey and how the Italian PA has used this 'tool' to increase the effectiveness of policies and strengthen awareness in planning and implementing public investments co-financed by the European Union. In six programming cycles, from 1989-1993 to 2021-2027, evaluation has had ups and downs, passing from the utmost marginality to a certain centrality. The approaches and tools put in place by the European Commission to make it useful for improving the results of the resources invested have been various, and this article attempts to summarise them, also in order to continue with momentum in the drive to strengthen public action for which evaluation is the vehicle. The retrospective analysis of the different interpretations that the evaluation processes have had in the Structural Funds (mainly ERDF and ESF) and in the rural development policies (EAFRD) allows us to learn some relevant lessons on the most effective strategies and on those that have not proved appropriate. It analyses how evaluation acted at the time of the pandemic, what lessons it has left in the scientific community in this particular stage of our recent history, also by means of a survey of insiders and PA staff involved in evaluation processes. Prospects for the near future are pointed out, providing some hints and suggestions for strengthening evaluation as an opportunity to affect the quality of administrative action in the country system and capable of fostering a cultural change in the management of public affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, the Author intends to take stock of the situation regarding the main Italian public institutions which have assumed a leading role in the evaluation of public policies, with particular regard to the evaluation of the public administration, the evaluation of the education and training system, the evaluation of universities and research, the analysis and evaluation of labor policies and social policies, the evaluation of development cooperation initiatives, the evaluation of cohesion policies, the evaluation of agricultural policies. For each of these areas the public institutions of reference are identified, the role covered is outlined and the main activities carried out within the framework of the functions assigned to them are described. The purpose of the essay is to provide a general overview: the sources reported can be used for appropriate insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The first relevant attempt to describe mixed methods (MM) in the field of evaluative research is attributable to Greene and Caracelli (1997). The authors distinguish various forms of MM starting from the purposes for which they are used. Since 1997 important developments occurred in academic and professional debates related to MM in evaluative research. Starting from the reconstruction of the debate on the usefulness and use of MM in evaluative research, this paper reflects on the ontological, epistemological, methodological, and axiological issues related to the evaluative research processes using MM. This consideration needs to involve an extended vision of the issues underlying the choices of specific methods in the research process. This is even more necessary in evaluative research that constitutionally engages with complex dilemmas, especially on the axiological level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper, in light of the growing interest that the Third Mission of the University knows at international and national level, delves into the ways in which it has been detected and evaluated by ANVUR in recent years. It shows that this assessment is based on two logics, one of a linearincremental type (more is better) and one of adequacy of the activities carried out face to the needs of the territory and the internal resources of the University. The second appears to be the most useful for the learning function that the evaluation should carry out in order to continuously improve the universities in their positioning into their settlement area. Finally, it suggests some lines of work to use TM assessment for learning purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research question in this paper is what the role of evaluation could be to improve the ability of universities to affect territorial development. Universities are supposed to be the driving force of territorial development in a global perspective, which therefore includes both local interests and the wider international and European context. What elements of the current institutional assessment can be used or valorized, and what other forms of assessment could be proposed for this purpose?. The aim is to discuss the concept of diversity of the national university system, trying to identify the potential inherent in the assessment, to avoid that diversification processes based on principles of competition and marketization can become marginalization factors of the universities located in less economically developed regions such as those located in southern Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay presents some results of a national research about the perception of the Department's deans of the changes in the governance of universities after L.N. 240/2010 and the introduction of management and evaluation control tools developed by Anvur. This paper focuses on the changes in resources for universities and departments and on criteria used in universities for the distribution of resources between departments, as perceived by Department Directors. The perception and the evaluation of these changes, by central players in the universities, appears to be very informative about the outcome of the reforms and the problems associated with them and offer elements of reflection about the uses of the tools and results of the evaluation, because of the relevance that this issue is gaining in the scaling back of resources for the University. Indeed, while 'macro' data are enabling the detection of the impact that VQR has had on different universities, empiric findings on its impact in universities, among different departments, are still modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates how the selection and training of experts for the external evaluation of schools takes places. According to the typology proposed by Bezzi (2007), our choice was on the one hand towards a competent evaluation, conducted by professionals with high experience in the school sector, on the other hand towards an expert evaluation, carried out by social sciences experts with evaluation skills. These professionals work in teams in order to maximize the skills they possess. The National Institute for the Educational Evaluation of Instruction and Training (INVALSI) has invested in their professional development and has sought to identify guidelines by which to offer training courses aimed at enhancing strategic skills, such as those related to the field data collection and those for feedback. Furthermore, INVALSI will set up a process of further training in order to support the attainment of a professional expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guiding hypothesis of the paper assumes that big data (BD) started affecting evaluation practices (formal and informal) in / of planning. The delay in developing 'public internet' for the benefit of the platforms prevents knowledge from being recognized as a common good. But, we must not underestimate the fact that the individual data in a social practice such as planning, have little value if not aggregated and aimed at offering innovative, and not only marketable, services. BDs open up new possibilities, but they also raise new issues of a cognitive, regulatory and decision-making type, as well as ethical and deontological. Four case studies provide evidence in this regard, particularly in the domains of mapping, mobility management and participation in public policies. These evidences help to identify relevant criteria for the evaluation of BD contributions in planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present evaluation analysis was conducted using a goal-free logic on 205 projects, implemented in different areas of Southern Italy benefiting from the financial support of the "CON IL SUD (FCS) Foundation", with the aim of highlighting some of the positive changes (expected or unexpected, direct or indirect) triggered by mid-long term projects, analysed using the Positive Thinking Approach as a research framework. In situations characterized by high levels of complexity, it is difficult to forecast how a change will manifest itself; therefore, the evaluative research should identify positive changes even when they occur unexpectedly. The author focuses on the different types of relational contexts in which the projects were embedded, with particular attention to how certain types of links between project partners and other stakeholders contributed, along with other factors, to generating local development in the territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role of Universities in past and present Italian cooperation activities for the development of poor countries, tracing the origins of Italian university cooperation and the evolution of its approaches until present. In particular, the article highlights the current role that universities play in supporting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the evaluation of development programs and projects in partner countries, as part of Universities' public engagement. This occurs through the creation of dedicated consulting bodies that gather institutional actors, civil society organizations, and university professors with thematic expertise in the field of development, including evaluation. The article concludes advancing future research questions to explore the effects that the collaboration between universities and the Italian cooperation system is producing, and the way universities can boost knowledge transfer for innovation and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents and discusses the results of the evaluation of the effects of an intervention to strengthen socio-emotional skills carried out in Colombia in 2019 as part of the international cooperation project "La Paz Unica Esperanza Para el Desarrollo Economico y Social" (PUEDES). The evaluation is carried out with the difference-in-difference method, on a group of 754 adolescents aged between 10 and 18, attending secondary school in the Department of Putumayo. The competences being assessed are self-esteem, regulation of positive and negative emotions and empathy. The results show that the effects were positive in all skills and, observing the differentiated effect by gender, it was found that it was more intense among girls than boys. Furthermore, participatory processes have produced positive effects especially in girls, in particular as regards the management of negative emotions, confirming the relevance of the gender variable in this type of process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Italy, the Presidential Decree 80/2013 established the Schools' National Evaluation System. In 2018, INVALSI (project PON Valu.E2) launched an evaluation study to develop a Self-Evaluation Form for Provincial Centres for Adult Education (PCAE). The use of the participatory approach in the study involved the PCAEs, bringing out their needs and expectations, while ensuring full adherence to the process by all actors. This contribution presents the participatory exploration phase of the semantic field of the study aimed at defining the evaluation indicators and the self-evaluation form. The authors present the approach and discuss its implications. Finally, they reflect on the role that institutional subjects can play in promoting a space of connection between the bearers of different points of view, creating synergies between central and local authorities in the field of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Evaluative research and research synthesis are connected from the drive to a constant reflection on the organicity of the available knowledge, its reliability, and the chance of considering it transferable beyond the original contest. The pluralism that characterizes evaluative research presents specific challenges related to the variety of approaches, designs, and questions. The reporting mode of processes and results - with the coexistence of heterogeneous literatures, lexicons, and approaches - require a specific reflection. Developments on the research synthesis front make it possible to identify different pathways to reach various objectives. Those developments are often related to collaborative initiatives that provide platforms for coordination, debate, and methodological development. The construction of collaborative networks involving the academic and professional community is the first step to respond to the main research synthesis challenges in the evaluative research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The impact assessment of social and labour policies is mainly based on direct inquiry on their recipients. In the case of net impact assessments, one has to observe a group of untreated individuals that is very homogeneous with respect to the treated. However, the very high cost of direct surveys limits their scope, as it prevents large sample size, hindering the reliability of estimates. The access to databases created for different purposes (fiscal, administrative, monitoring) could overcome the above limitations, with much convenience in terms of cost and data quality. This paper presents a validation exercise based on a very broad and complex employment database, the Comunicazioni Obbligaorie (COB), that collects employers' compulsory notifications in the case of changes in a job contract. This exercise was possible thanks to an extraordinary condition, giving contemporaneous access to two different data sources, the COB database and a direct survey on recipients of vocational training policies in the Piedmont Region. The paper discusses the main differences between employment indicators evaluated on direct survey data and on COB data. Inconsistencies involve the 20% sample. In addition, such inconsistencies do distort the net impact assessment, since the key variables for placement outcomes vary significantly. Hence, whenever administrative databases are used as a source for socioeconomic analyses, extreme caution and critical thinking must be used, verifying the reliability of estimates deriving from their use and comparing results with other sources. In the lack of such preliminary validation, which should be carried out in close collaboration with the regional or national authorities managing the information systems, we run the risk not only to uncritically accept information producing systematic bias, but also to prevent the development of procedures that are essential for the system development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper is a passionate "reaction" to the evaluation system designed and implemented of the ANVUR in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to argue that the culture of evaluation in Italian universities producing irrational economic, cultural and social effects on the universities. The central idea of this paper is that the quality of the university is closely linked to the quality of its evaluation process, in the essay critically discusses the reasons for the decline of the university also to stimulate the attention of sociologists on the processes of change occurring after the 'ANVUR' and encourage them to study with a "sociological eye" some effects of the evaluation system on the quality of the university, on the scientific research and on the categories of subjects that animate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)