Evaluating Public (e-)Consultation Processes

Abstract

In this chapter, the primary research question of the e2d project, the applicability and validity of evaluation tools, is applied to six cases of public consultations. Following the general idea of a twofold relativity theory of evaluating (e)-participation as outlined in Chap. 2, three pairs of similar cases are subjected to evaluation from an organizer’s as well as from a participant’s view by means of different tools. As a result, it is recommended that in every case a verbal assessment should be made by external observers based on a template, which has been demonstrated here. In addition, a quantitative assessment of the same success criteria can be achieved by interviewing organizers. Because we found a high level of variance in the views of different organizers in different departments on the same consultation process, as many organizers as possible should be interviewed. Their views can be complemented by surveying participants, which leads to partly different results. The votes of participants are also influenced by the point in time at which the assessment is undertaken. In most cases, it is only possible to get citizens to assess the process as well as its output and outcome, but not the impact at the time of their participation, as often it takes several months until impacts materialize and participants cannot be reached anymore as they have not registered.