Find an Overview Report
Instead of diving right into individual articles within the literature, try seeing if there's an overview report available.
To start, check out these resources:
- Congressional Research Service (CRS)Per their "About CRS" page, "CRS reports provide Congress with both anticipatory and on-demand research and analysis to support their legislative, oversight, and representational duties. All reports adhere to the core values of CRS; they are authoritative, objective and nonpartisan. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress. "
- Office of Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)Provides access to plans and reports by the Office of the Inspector General; in particular, please see the audits and search page in the "Our Work" drop down menu.
- U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Evaluation Report RepositoryReports and testimonies from the US Government Accountability Office, in order of recency.
- World Bank Open Knowledge RepositoryLinks to search page of the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository.
Searching for Evaluation Reports
There is no single solution to finding individual evaluation reports or evaluation syntheses. They can be found in the scholarly literature, in databases of systematic reviews, on the websites of organizations, and in general on the web.
The resources below will help you get started, especially the Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs (which provide even more resources).
When searching for evaluation resources reports, keep in mind that the following keywords can be useful:
- Evaluation report
- Evaluation toolkit
- Clearinghouse
- Evidence-based policy
- "What works"
Also, when working in databases, it can be helpful to look for evaluation report subject headings or filters for literature types.
National and International Evaluation Resources
- Better EvaluationPer their "About" page, BetterEvaluation is..."the knowledge platform of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI), a global coalition of organizations and experts working together to support country governments to strengthen monitoring, evaluation, and the use of evidence in their countries."
- Campbell Collaboration"The Campbell Collaboration is an international social science research network that produces high quality, open and policy-relevant evidence syntheses, plain language summaries and policy briefs."
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Evaluation ResourcesCDC's compilation of program evaluation resources, including "Conducting Strong Evaluations," "Framework-Based Materials," "CDC Evaluation Documents, Workbooks, and Tools," and "Program Guides for Public Health Programs: A Self-Study Guide."
- Guidelines for Reporting Outcomes in Trial Reports: The CONSORT-Outcomes 2022 ExtensionThe CONSORT, which stands for Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, encompasses guidelines for evidence-based and consensus-based reporting of randomized control trials.
- Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group"The Independent Evaluation Group evaluates the work of the World Bank Group to find what works, what doesn't, and why. IEG evaluations provide an objective assessment of World Bank Group results, and identify lessons learned from experience."
- U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO)Per their "About" page, the "...GAO, often called the "congressional watchdog,” is an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress. GAO examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, non-partisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and work more efficiently."
- USAID Development Experience ClearinghouseThe USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) "... provides access to over 10,000 USAID evaluations, spanning several decades of development activities at USAID."
- What Works ClearinghousePer their "About" page, "the WWC has been a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. We review the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings."