Theory Based Evaluation

The objective of this guidance is to provide users of EVALSED with some general ideas of what TBE is, what questions it can answer under which circumstances and how the approach can be applied, using various evaluations methods.
Several approaches have been developed within TBE over the years. However, these approaches have not been applied often within the socio-economic development programmes financed under EU Cohesion policy. Therefore, the present guidance provides examples of how TBE has been used in other intervention fields. When good practice examples are available in the field of the EU Cohesion policy, the guidance material will be updated.
Some of the data collection techniques relevant for TBE, e.g., focus groups, workshops, case studies, expert judgements, are explained in section 2. More information on data collection is included on EVALSED under the Sourcebook: Method and Techniques in the Section: Collecting Information:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/evaluation/evalsed/... _techniques/collecting_information/index_en.htm
Users of the guidance are encouraged to refer to the examples and references given before applying the approaches for the first time. The approaches build upon a wealth of experience and literature that is not fully reviewed here. Therefore, it would be advisable, especially for those who wish to explore TBE in more detail, to refer to additional expertise and other specialised literature.