Closing the evaluation gap in e-participation research and practice

Abstract

This chapter points out the upswing of citizen participation, the emergence of a broad range of participation forms, and the high expectations of the potentials of e-participation. Against this background, a twofold evaluation gap is identified: a lack of acknowledged success criteria and indicators and a lack of empirical studies analyzing, differentiating, and comparing ecologies of e-participation instead of undertaking isolated case studies. The second part reviews major types of evaluation criteria and different conceptual frameworks for evaluating e-participation processes. It concludes with a twofold “relativity theory” of evaluation and proposes an adapted Input–Activities–Output–Outcome–Impact model for the comparative evaluation of e-participation through a quasi-experimental field study design.