Colin Palfrey has worked in local government and taught in UK universities and abroad. He is currently Research Officer in the National Assembly for Wales. Paul Thomas is Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University; he has worked in local government and several universities and has been undertaking evaluations for more than 30 years. Ceri Phillips is Professor of Health Economics at Swansea University Centre for Health Economics and Head of Research at Swansea University's College of Human and Health Sciences

"This book provides a critical and long overdue analysis of the contribution of decades of evaluation research to policy making. The text is concise, comprehensive, objective and eminently readable." Philip Jacobs, University of Alberta and the Institute of Health Economics, Canada

• Evaluation in the political and academic worlds; What is meant by evaluation?; Designing evaluations; Selecting evaluation criteria; Developments in economic evaluation; The impact of evaluation on decision making; The future for evaluation; Concluding thoughts.

Colin Palfrey has worked in local government and taught in UK universities and abroad. He is currently Research Officer in the National Assembly for Wales. Paul Thomas is Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University; he has worked in local government and several universities and has been undertaking evaluations for more than 30 years. Ceri Phillips is Professor of Health Economics at Swansea University Centre for Health Economics and Head of Research at Swansea University's College of Human and Health Sciences

"This book provides a critical and long overdue analysis of the contribution of decades of evaluation research to policy making. The text is concise, comprehensive, objective and eminently readable." Philip Jacobs, University of Alberta and the Institute of Health Economics, Canada

• Evaluation in the political and academic worlds; What is meant by evaluation?; Designing evaluations; Selecting evaluation criteria; Developments in economic evaluation; The impact of evaluation on decision making; The future for evaluation; Concluding thoughts.

Colin Palfrey has worked in local government and taught in UK universities and abroad. He is currently Research Officer in the National Assembly for Wales. Paul Thomas is Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University; he has worked in local government and several universities and has been undertaking evaluations for more than 30 years. Ceri Phillips is Professor of Health Economics at Swansea University Centre for Health Economics and Head of Research at Swansea University's College of Human and Health Sciences

"This book provides a critical and long overdue analysis of the contribution of decades of evaluation research to policy making. The text is concise, comprehensive, objective and eminently readable." Philip Jacobs, University of Alberta and the Institute of Health Economics, Canada

• Evaluation in the political and academic worlds; What is meant by evaluation?; Designing evaluations; Selecting evaluation criteria; Developments in economic evaluation; The impact of evaluation on decision making; The future for evaluation; Concluding thoughts.