Artificial Intelligence and Evaluation: Emerging Technologies and Their Implications for Evaluation
Oxford: Routledge (2025), 330 pp.
Series: Comparative Policy Evaluation
ISBN 978-1-00-351249-3 (ebook); 978-1-032-85680-3 (pbk)
"Artificial Intelligence and Evaluation: Emerging Technologies and Their Implications for Evaluation is a groundbreaking exploration of how the landscape of program evaluation will be redefined by artificial intelligence and other emerging digital technologies. In an era where digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly evolving, this book presents a pivotal resource for evaluators navigating the transformative intersection of their practice and cutting-edge technology. Addressing the dual dimensions of how evaluations are conducted and what is evaluated, a roster of distinguished contributors illuminate the impact of AI on program evaluation methodologies. Offering a discerning overview of various digital technologies, their promises and perils, they carefully dissect the implications for evaluative processes and debate how evaluators must be equipped with the requisite skills to harness the full potential of AI tools. Further, the book includes a number of compelling use cases, demonstrating the tangible applications of AI in diverse evaluation scenarios. The use cases range from the application of GIS data to advanced text analytics. As such, this book provides evaluators with inspirational cases on how to apply AI in their practice as well as what pitfalls one must look out for." (Publisher description)
1 Evaluation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence / Steffen Bohni Nielsen, Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi, and Gustav Jakob Petersson, 1
2 Emerging Technology and Evaluation in International Development / Kerry Bruce, Valentine J Gandhi, and Joris Vandelanotte, 13
3 The Applications of Big Data to Strengthen Evaluation / Pete York and Michael Bamberger, 37
4 Ethics and Equity in Data Science for Evaluators / Nathan Greenstein and Sung-Woo Cho, 56
5 Extracting Meaning from Textual Data for Evaluation: Lessons from Recent Practice at the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank / Virginia Ziulu, Harsh Anuj, Ariya Hagh, Estelle Raimondo, and Jos Vaessen, 78
6 Text Mining and Machine Learning in a Performance Audit of Police Handling of Cybercrime in Norway / Tom Næss, Helge Holtermann, Carolin Prabhu, Lars Skage Engebretsen, and Mari Mjaaland, 103
7 Big Data for Big Investments: Making Responsible and Effective Use of Data Science and AI in Research Councils / Jon Holm, Denis Newman-Griffis, and Gustav Jakob Petersson, 120
8 The Use of Quantitative Text Analysis in Evaluations / Laura Gatto and Pirmin Bundi, 144
9 Artificial Intelligence and Text Analysis in Evaluating Complex Social Phenomena: The Russia–Ukraine Conflict / Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi, Elvira Celardi, Vincenzo Miracula, and Antonio Picone, 168
10 Harnessing Geospatial Approaches to Strengthen Evaluative Evidence / Anupam anand, geeta batra, and juha i. Uitto, 196
11 The Future of Evaluation Analytics: Case Studies of Structural Causal Modeling in Action / Pete York, 219
12 The Algorithmization of Policy and Society: The Need for a Realist Evaluation Approach / Frans l. Leeuw, 242
13 The Evaluation Industry and Emerging Technologies / Steffen Bohni Nielsen, 266
14 Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for Evaluators / Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi and Steffen Bohni Nielsen, 287
2 Emerging Technology and Evaluation in International Development / Kerry Bruce, Valentine J Gandhi, and Joris Vandelanotte, 13
3 The Applications of Big Data to Strengthen Evaluation / Pete York and Michael Bamberger, 37
4 Ethics and Equity in Data Science for Evaluators / Nathan Greenstein and Sung-Woo Cho, 56
5 Extracting Meaning from Textual Data for Evaluation: Lessons from Recent Practice at the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank / Virginia Ziulu, Harsh Anuj, Ariya Hagh, Estelle Raimondo, and Jos Vaessen, 78
6 Text Mining and Machine Learning in a Performance Audit of Police Handling of Cybercrime in Norway / Tom Næss, Helge Holtermann, Carolin Prabhu, Lars Skage Engebretsen, and Mari Mjaaland, 103
7 Big Data for Big Investments: Making Responsible and Effective Use of Data Science and AI in Research Councils / Jon Holm, Denis Newman-Griffis, and Gustav Jakob Petersson, 120
8 The Use of Quantitative Text Analysis in Evaluations / Laura Gatto and Pirmin Bundi, 144
9 Artificial Intelligence and Text Analysis in Evaluating Complex Social Phenomena: The Russia–Ukraine Conflict / Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi, Elvira Celardi, Vincenzo Miracula, and Antonio Picone, 168
10 Harnessing Geospatial Approaches to Strengthen Evaluative Evidence / Anupam anand, geeta batra, and juha i. Uitto, 196
11 The Future of Evaluation Analytics: Case Studies of Structural Causal Modeling in Action / Pete York, 219
12 The Algorithmization of Policy and Society: The Need for a Realist Evaluation Approach / Frans l. Leeuw, 242
13 The Evaluation Industry and Emerging Technologies / Steffen Bohni Nielsen, 266
14 Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for Evaluators / Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi and Steffen Bohni Nielsen, 287
