Performance Dimensions For The Evaluation Of Public Participation Programs: An Application From Theory

This paper utilizes a case study as a means to yield some insight into the performance of public participation programs and to gain some information for the improvement of future programs. To these ends, an evaluation of the Phase II public participation programs for the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977 (RCA) in the State of Michigan was undertaken. This Act calls for the USDA to make an appraisal of all soil and water resources on non-federal land and develop a national soil and water conservation program. The Act specifically requires participation by the public in developing this national program. In accordance with this requirement, USDA launched one of the largest public participation efforts ever undertaken in the U.S. Additionally, the Act requires that the conservation program plan developed during this process be updated at five year periods. The scope of the RCA public participation effort and the requirement that the process be repeated in 1985 recommended using a component of this particular public participation program as the focus for an evaluative study. Evaluation involves making judgements about the results of aggregated human behaviors based upon a set of criteria, or performance norms. Unfortunately, there is little consensus in the participation literature as to the appropriate criteria by which to judge the performance of a participation program. This lack of agreement stems, at least partially, from the highly interdisciplinary nature of participation research. The participation literature is vast and has no commonly accepted theoretical framework.