How Do We Know What Information Sharing Is Really Worth? by Brian A. Jackson

Author:Brian A. Jackson [Jackson, Brian A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8330-8388-3
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Published: 2014-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Evaluation at Implementation Versus Post Hoc Assessment

Addressing the problems in evaluating information sharing systems begins with the simple but important point that assessing a system that is already in place and being used is a different task from assessing a change in information sharing as the system is being implemented. In the latter case, there is an opportunity to determine specific data required to evaluate the effects of the system, make measurements before the system is put in place, and then compare that baseline with later performance. Even more sophisticated designs may be possible to further isolate the effect of the sharing system. Such designs might incorporate features such as randomized treatment groups (i.e., a subset of an agency that is given access to the system) and controls (a subset that is not given access until later).32 Evaluation efforts to assess a system that is already in place do not have these pre-implementation options, making the creation of control groups for comparison more difficult.

Potentially more important, planning for evaluation as a system is implemented also improves the likelihood that the data needed will be captured at all.33 These issues apply to all four of the classes of sharing efforts discussed previously, but they may be particularly problematic for expertise sharing efforts, which are frequently person-to-person activities and are thus potentially the least likely to automatically produce analyzable information for assessment. In view of this, evaluation methods are needed to assess the value of the many investments in information sharing that have already been made, in spite of the greater difficulty of doing so. Future information sharing investments could have evaluation requirements and resources built into the programs to provide the greatest potential for limiting the risk that a focus on implementation alone will make the value of the investments difficult to assess.

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