Evaluation and implementation studies have a well-established tradition. For evaluation in general, this tradition seems to offer a clear-cut research design. This is not true for evaluation of strategic plans. First, most evaluation and implementation research deals with specific and well-defined operational policy and not with broad and sometimes vague indicative strategic planning. Second, the means – ends scheme underlying mainstream evaluation, in which conformance between a plan and final outcomes is the ultimate test of effectiveness, does not apply. In trying to establish conformance, we not only ask the wrong question but also use the wrong unit of analysis. Building on ideas from the planning and evaluation literature, we develop an alternative approach based on the notion that strategic plans serve the function of signposts for those involved in subsequent decisions. Our approach entails a test of the effectiveness of strategic plans which reflects their character; we suggest testing their performance. Empirical research on the role and purpose of strategic plans shows that ‘performance’ offers a promising way of understanding how strategic plans relate to intervention and of judging their usefulness.
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