B.A. (Hons), M.A (Econ). Ph.D., Hon. D.Sc Europe).

distinguished Indian Economist

FUNDAMENTALS OF APPLIED EVALUATION (1979)

  • Overview
  • Index
  • Review
  • Impressions
  • Review

              Project appraisal, monitoring and evaluation have received greater importance in the process of planning for development now than in the past. The author has presented the details in eight chapters and explores some of the conceptual and methodological problems involved in the evaluation of plan schemes and tries to suggest alternative approaches that appear to be useful and feasible. The first chapter sets t he conceptual framework. Methods and issues in field investigation, statistical techniques in evaluation and the sources of statistical data for evaluation are the subject matters of the next three chapters. Current issues in cost-benefit analyais are discussed in chapter five, besides emphasising the limitations of that technique. Other techniques like Programme Evaluation and Review Technique, Critical Path Method, Capital-Output Ratio, Input-output Technique, Line of Balance Technology and Simulation Technique are discussed in the next chapter. Chapter seven deals with some general issues in evaluation and stresses about the evaluation of projects in Centrally planned and in private enterprise economies. The time factor, criteria and self-evaluation are also analysed. The last chapter is on the presentation of the report which task is most difficult, yet exhilerating for an evaluator. This book is by an author of repute who has spent most of his life on evaluation of plan programmes. This is the first comprehensive book by an Indian author on the subject. The author who has many evaluation studies to his credit is an authority on evaluation in India. This book will serve as a handbook for evaluators, administrators, academicians and to those connected with training programmes. 

Preface                                                                                   iii
I The Conceptual Framework                                                  1
II Methods and Issues in Field Investigation                        26
III Statistical Techniques in Evaluation                                 50
IV Sources of Statistical Data for Evaluation                         82
V Current Issues in Cost-Benefit Analysis                           128
VI Other Techniques in Evaluation and Appraisal                155
VII Some General Issues in Evaluation                                172
VIII Presentation of the Report                                            187
Bibliography                                                                         202
Index                                                                                   225

"Fundamentals of Applied Evaluation" : written by K. Puttaswamaiah and published by Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., 1979, ptri+227.

With the yawning gap between the physical targets and the actual achievements in different sectors of the country's economy under the successive Five Year Plans, the need for scientific formulation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of the development projects has been increasingly felt, rather is being insisted upon, for proper adjustments in, if not overhauling of, the planning philosophy, goals and strategy. It is being sought for correcting the structural and sectoral imbalances in targets, harmonising inter-sector interests, reconciling interregional differences, ensuring inter-departmental coordination to achieve functional efficiency and, above all for injecting the requisite degree of realism into the formulation process of the targets based on the resources inventory and the prevailing socio-economic and political situation, of course in a dynamic context. It is not that such a need had not been felt earlier : rather as early as in 1954, the Programme Evaluation Organisation had been set up by the Government of India for the current and on-the-spot appraisal and evaluation of the community development programme which was then the premier development programme undertaken by the Government with public participation Later, not only was the operational area of this organisation extended to cover other social and development projects but were its counter-parts also set up at the State level for providing a continuum in operation and inter-state comparison of methodologies and techniques employed for the appraisal of different types of programmes.

It is in this context that the need and utility of this publication are to be appreciated and recognised. Consisting of eight chapters, the publication seeks to 'explore some of the conceptual and methodological problems involved in the evaluation of plan schemes and tries to suggest alternative approaches that, according to the author, appear to be Useful and feasible. Against the background of conceptual framework built up by him in chapter one, the author dwells on different methods and issues in field investigation, statistical techniques in evaluation and the sources of statistical data for evaluation in the subsequent three chapters. He discusses the current issues in cost-benefit analysis, besides emphasising its limitations, in chapter five and analyses the theoretical aspects and operational details of other evaluation techniques like Programme Evaluation and Review Technique, Critical Path Method, Capital- Output Ratio, Input-output Techniques, Line of Balance Technology and Simulation

Technique in chapter six. So far confined to the inter-method comparisons, he attempts in chapter seven the inter-system comparison of the role and technique of project evaluation as between the centrally planned and the private enterprise economies in chapter seven. To complete the picture he analyses in the last chapter the framework and presentation of a report on project evaluation.

The publication should be a highly valuable guide to the students and practitioners of evaluation, who are aided in proper understanding of the complicated nature of different evaluation techniques in simple language and illustrative context. It must help towards overcoming the gap between the 'provision' for and the 'performance' of different development projects to the extent that such gaps followed the application of unscientific and unrealistic methods/techniques of evaluation and monitoring. Once the practitioners become aware of limitations and flaws of the methods adopted by them, they are bound to be considerably benefited by a serious perusal of this publication, embodying a very lucid, scientific and straightforward approach to the subject. This approach bears out in an ample measure the long, empirical and down-to-earth experience of the author in conducting a number of evaluation/monitoring studies.

One cannot resist from stating that different methods discussed in this publication are relevant to different statistical situations, depending on the availability of time series data with a fair degree of reliability for different sectors of the economy, availability of requisite statistical expertise for collating, analysing and interpreting the results arrived at by the different methods, and lastly the comparative status of time and money involved and the degree of precision and dependability of results to be the basis of action-oriented programmes. It is the optimal view of these varying considerations that is to decide the choice of a specific method or methods to be applied. However, according as the process of planning is built up, more statistics are collected and analysed and more precise results are needed for switching the policy and strategy in the desired direction, the more sophisticated techniques as discussed in this book become not only relevant but also are actually needed for scientific planning.

This publication should prove highly useful to the planners not alone in India but in other developing countries also, most of which are grappling with the methodological uncertainties of planning and evaluation as India had experienced in the fifties. As such, a publication of this type written by an Indian author against the background of Indian experiences must be a valuable addition to the existing literature on the subject most Of which is written by Western authors against a background almost alien to the parameters of Indian planning. Since its subject matter is not situational, involving attitudes, experiences and views on a particular economic/political/social phenomenon, the publication leaves little scope for controversy and argument except that one might disagree with the application per se of a particular technique in view of a country's peculiarities in matter of its statistical base and ultimate objective of a specific development project.

Since the failure in a specific development project can be due as much to the faulty formulation as to the unscientific evaluation and monitoring, it would have been in the interest of the complete range of treatment, ii the publication had discussed the scientific methods of project formulation as well.

The bibliography given towards the end of the publication considerably adds to its value as a reference book.

EXTRACTS FROM BOOK REVIEW
FUNDAMENTALS OF APPLIED EVALUATION, 1979 pp 227.
"The book with its bibliography serves as a handbook on evaluation techniques
relating to India”.
       ARTHA VIJNANA.
"This is a welcome addition to the literature on development planning where there are not many books by Indian authors on the subject."
       ECONOMIC TIMES.
"The reader is at ease both with regard for the comprehension of ideas and
understanding of the language because the ideas are clothed in simple but appropriate words... This book can very well serve as a guide for evaluators, administrators, academicians and to all those connected with programmes and projects."
       SOUTHERN ECONOMIST.
"It is a comprehensive book in the field, of project evaluation and may serve as
a handbook to evaluators and persons engaged in the field of planning, research and training programmes."
       MARGIN.
"The publication should prove highly useful to the planners not alone in India
but in other developing countries, also . . . A publication of this type written by an Indian author against the background of Indian experiences must be valuable addition to the existing literature on the subject."  “The bibliography given towards the end of the publication considerably adds to its value as a reference book”.

        MONTHLY COMMENTARY.
"It is a well written book with clarity and keeping in view the Indian background, requirements and limitations”.    

       EASTERN ECONOMIST.
"This study reveals the author's Intimate knowledge of problem areas in evaluation … . The technique of writing evaluation reports has been discussed … .With reference to the author's own experience in the line”.
       CAPITAL,
"The author focuses his attention on the procedure and methodology so essential to adapt the evaluative process to the task of planning, selecting implementing and modifying social action programmes ... The close connection between monitoring, evaluation and research is brought out effectively”..
       DECCAN HERALD.
“The author makes a fervent plea for seriousness of approach to the context of
evaluation and the practical problems encountered in making evaluation an effective means of control. The technique of writing evaluation reports has been discussed with reference to the author’s own experience”.
       PRODUCTIVITY.
"In the whole, the author has done well to Introduce these important issues in an unambiguous manner”.
       INDIA QUARTERLY.
"Written in a lucid style, the book is thought provoking and a good grip over it
may help eliminating the element of subjectivity from an evaluator to a greater
extent”.
       YOJANA.

CAPITAL

AUGUST 13,1979
VOLUME 183/NO.4570

Feedback techniques

FUNDAMENTALS OF APPLIED EVALUATION

by K. PUTTASWAMAIAH
Oxford & 1BH Publishing
Company, New Delhi, 1979.

FORMULATION of projects and their evaluation are important for planned economic development. In India, despite three decades of planning, planners as well as those in charge of execution have generally remained insensitive to the lessons of experience and mistakes have been constantly repeated.

This study deals with field investigation and statistical techniques and reveals the author's intimate knowledge of problem areas in evaluation. He points out how one should make evaluation cost effective. The statistical methods discussed by him are basic though they have their relevance. He cautions that the appropriateness of the data to the problem in view should be gauged before drawing inferences. He cautions against facile generalizations and inadequate interpretation of statistical measures which can lead to a totally distorted view of both plans and their execution.

Current issues in cost-benefit analysis are discussed. The author is right in suggesting that costbenefit analysis has been used more for justifying projects than as a tool for project planning. However, the scope of cost-benefit analysis is being extended rapidly, covering areas as nebulous as social costs and as tangible as business profit. The author asserts that where a strictly financial appraisal gives an inadequate picture of overall economic advantages or disadvantages, it is necessary to employ cost-benefit analysis.

He points out that enumeration of costs and benefits is only the first stage; quantification of inputs and outputs and their valuation are the real problem. If one used shadow prices for such evaluation the picture may be highly distorted. In general, however, it is accepted that cost-benefit ratio should be less than one, benefits exceeding costs; the rate of return in the project should be acceptable from different points of view.

The author has also discussed other techniques like PERT, CPM and line of balance apart from input-output analysis and capitaloutput ratio as far as these relate to evaluation of plan schemes.

The technique of writing evaluation reports has been discussed in some detail with reference to the author's own experience in the line.

M A R G I N

Vol. 11 July 1979

Fundamentals of Applied Evaluation by K. Puttaswamaiah,
published by Oxford A IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi,
1979, pp. x j 227.

PROJECT evaluation is an important tool for improved and better planning, in the process of planned economic development of an underdeveloped country. In India, project evaIuation gained importance in recent years as a tool for monitoring of economic policies in general and various projects in particular.

Failures cannot pave the path for success unless they are objectively studied and analysed with a view to avoiding them in future. One can learn more from one's own errors and an objective assessment of past experience. Long-term planning would be incomplete without an inherent system of continuous monitoring and evaluation of projects. The book under review explains the conceptual and methodological problems involved in a meaningful evaluation of plan scheme and goes forward to suggest an alternative approach for improvement in existing techniques.

Initial chapters deal with the need for evaluation and the difference between reporting, appraisal and evaluation. The contents, characteristics and criteria of effective evaluation along with the scope and techniques of evaluation have been discussed in detail. Requirement of data, preparation of questionnaire and formulation of statistical hypothesis for different types of evaluation studies, and the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of data collection are also discussed.

In Chapters Three and Four author discusses importance, limitation and sources of statistical data, qualities of a statistical unit, choice of averages, uses and limitation of index number, sampling techniques and application of statistical techniques to evaluation studies, In applied research, statistical data is of prime importance for analysis and drawing conclusions. Beside the primary data collected through surveys, one has also to depend on the secondary data published by various government/private agencies.

Data required for different types of studies in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, irrigation, cooperation and marketing, sericulture, industries, mines and mineral development, power, transport, trade, finance, medical And public health, education, population, labour, etc., are discussed by source in detail.

Current issues in cost-benefit analysis are discussed in Chapter lave, where the author explains the concept of cost-benefit analysis for project appraisal to determine project feasibilities and quantification of the benefits and costs. The application of this technique for project evaluation is relevant to project planning. Programme evaluation and review technique, critical path method, line balance technology, capitaloutput ratio, input-output technique, simulation and other techniques are also covered The application of these techniques for planning, evaluation and review has been discussed by the author.

Evaluation of project in centrally planned economy and predominantly private enterprise economy may require different techniques and the author has explained, the nature of evaluation criteria, importance of ex-ante, concurrent and ex-post evaluations along with the role of self-evaluation in objective evaluation. The last chapter deals with the various aspects of report, writing and its presentation, which the author thinks is a difficult task. His emphasis on systematic thinking, collection and analysis of data,, format and preparation of report, spelling out, of the purpose of study and its time representation, etc., appear to be rudimentary, yet these may serve as a useful guide to new report writers.

Altogether it is a comprehensive book in the held of project evaluation and may serve as a handbook to evaluators and persons engaged in held of planning,research and training programmes.

                                                                                                           S.P.BATRA.

SOUTHERN ECONOMIST VOLUME 17
IMPORTANCE OF PLAN EVALUATION


PLAN formulation, appraisal, "monitoring and evaluation are integral aspects of the planning and developmental process. Appraisal and monitoring partake of the nature of internal evaluation and therefore, less objective in nature. Further, they cannot diagnose defects or problems and suggest remedial measures. Therefore, a more objective enquiry into the progress and impact of projects on the people, by an outside agency is warranted. It is in this context that evaluation emerges as the proper methodological accompaniment of planning. In the context of the reverse in the plan approach from "macro" to "micro'5 and of the fabrication of specific projects for global financial assistance and the prevalence of wide gaps between our plans' performance and goals, evaluation assumes special significance. Such an objective evaluation not only helps to monitor performance and allocate resources, but also to provide necessary understanding for judicious programme modification and selection.

It is with this convincing rationale, the author has given a full length analysis on this subject.* The theme runs to over 8 chapters. The conceptual clarity of the term, together with the criteria for effective evaluation, is well portrayed in the introductory chapter. The author here cautions that evaluation should concern itself with both the aspects of development—quantitative and qualitative—within a time boundary. Otherwise it becomes incomplete. The subsequent chapter exposes the reader to the vast arena of issues to be evaluated in their operational framework. With this orientation to the readers, the author explains the need to identify the problem in measurable terms together with the setting of norms for evaluation.

The study of the problem should be done in a scientific way with a spirit of enquiry by formulating a good research design. At this juncture, the author gives at length the various components of the design. Formulation of hypotheses, testing of the hypotheses through the data collection using the most appropriate tools of research like schedules, questionnaire etc; the need for conducting the pilot study together with the resume of statistical techniques that may be of use in it, all have been well narrated. The author rightly acclaims that the accuracy and reliability of data and the objectivity of evaluation highly get upgraded with the use of statistical techniques.

In a country like ours with shortages of every kind, all investment activities must be weighed in terms of costs and benefits. Such analysis does aid the implementation of the strategy of development in its long term perspective. The author has put forth some of the modern management techniques like the Programme Evaluation and Review Technique, crictical path method, the line of Balance Technology, Simulation Technology which are useful in the planning process as well as evaluation and review. While reviewing the techniques in terms of purpose and viability, the author cautions that there should not be any indiscriminate use of the techniques for it may nullify the very purpose of the work. The highly intricate task of report writing is well directed with the stipulations to be adhered to while working on it. The author declares that a good report can be got up only with effective scientific writing based on sound thinking, analysis and understanding and interpretation of data. He has guided the reader well by saying that a report, to be good, must be couched in simple language with simple ideas and words in coherent sentences. Even the small details on the mode of giving foot notes etc have not escaped the attention of the author. The inclusion of the sources of data collection for a retinue of issues like Agriculture, Industry, Population etc. provides enlightenment to the potential researcher in the reader to identify his areas of data collection. This is another novelty of this monograph. When we go through the matter we are well conditioned mentally to assimilate and understand the things in their right prespective. The reader is at ease both with regard to the comprehension of ideas and understanding of the language because the ideas are clothed in simple but appropriate words. No doubt, the reader is helped to get a good deal of mental illumination on this issue of Evaluation. The abundant field experience of the author in this area has added depth to this monograph. This book can very well serve as a guidebook for evaluators, administrators, academicians and to all those connected with programmes and projects.

MONTHLY COMMENTARY                                                            VOL.XX.NO.6
JANUARY 1979

                              BOOK REVIEW


"Fundamentals of Applied Evaluation" : written by K. Puttaswamaiah and published by Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., 1979, ptri+227. With the yawning gap between the physical targets and the actual achievements in different sectors of the country's economy under the successive Five Year Plans, the need for scientific formulation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of the development projects has been increasingly felt, rather is being insisted upon, for proper adjustments in, if not overhauling of, the planning philosophy, goals and strategy. It is being sought for correcting the structural and sectoral imbalances in targets, harmonising inter-sector interests, reconciling interregional differences, ensuring inter-departmental coordination to achieve functional efficiency and, above all for injecting the requisite degree of realism into the formulation process of the targets based on the resources inventory and the prevailing socio-economic and political situation, of course in a dynamic context. It is not that such a need had not been felt earlier : rather as early as in 1954, the Programme Evaluation Organisation had been set up by the Government of India for the current and on-the-spot appraisal and evaluation of the community development programme which was then the premier development programme undertaken by the Government with public participation Later, not only was the operational area of this organisation extended to cover other social and development projects but were its counter-parts also set up at the State level for providing a continuum in operation and inter-state comparison of methodologies and techniques employed for the appraisal of different types of programmes. It is in this context that the need and utility of this publication are to be appreciated and recognised. Consisting of eight chapters, the publication seeks to 'explore some of the conceptual and methodological problems involved in the evaluation of plan schemes and tries to suggest alternative approaches that, according to the author, appear to be Useful and feasible. Against the background of conceptual framework built up by him in chapter one, the author dwells on different methods and issues in field investigation, statistical techniques in evaluation and the sources of statistical data for evaluation in the subsequent three chapters. He discusses the current issues in cost-benefit analysis, besides emphasising its limitations, in chapter five and analyses the theoretical aspects and operational details of other evaluation techniques like Programme Evaluation and Review Technique, Critical Path Method, Capital- Output Ratio, Input-output Techniques, Line of Balance Technology and Simulation Technique in chapter six. So far confined to the inter-method comparisons, he attempts in chapter seven the inter-system comparison of the role and technique of project evaluation as between the centrally planned and the private enterprise economies in chapter seven. To complete the picture he analyses in the last chapter the framework and presentation of a report on project evaluation. 

The publication should be a highly valuable guide to the students and practitioners of evaluation, who are aided in proper understanding of the complicated nature of different evaluation techniques in simple language and illustrative context. It must help towards overcoming the gap between the 'provision' for and the 'performance' of different development projects to the extent that such gaps followed the application of unscientific and unrealistic methods/techniques of evaluation and monitoring. Once the practitioners become aware of limitations and flaws of the methods adopted by them, they are bound to be considerably benefited by a serious perusal of this publication, embodying a very lucid, scientific and straightforward approach to the subject. This approach bears out in an ample measure the long, empirical and down-to-earth experience of the author in conducting a number of evaluation/monitoring studies.

One cannot resist from stating that different methods discussed in this publication are relevant to different statistical situations, depending on the availability of time series data with a fair degree of reliability for different sectors of the economy, availability of requisite statistical expertise for collating, analysing and interpreting the results arrived at by the different methods, and lastly the comparative status of time and money involved and the degree of precision and dependability of results to be the basis of action-oriented programmes. It is the optimal view of these varying considerations that is to decide the choice of a specific method or methods to be applied. However, according as the process of planning is built up, more statistics are collected and analysed and more precise results are needed for switching the policy and strategy in the desired direction, the more sophisticated techniques as discussed in this book become not only relevant but also are actually needed for scientific planning.

This publication should prove highly useful to the planners not alone in India but in other developing countries also, most of which are grappling with the methodological uncertainties of planning and evaluation as India had experienced in the fifties. As such, a publication of this type written by an Indian author against the background of Indian experiences must be a valuable addition to the existing literature on the subject most Of which is written by Western authors against a background almost alien to the parameters of Indian planning. Since its subject matter is not situational, involving attitudes, experiences and views on a particular economic/political/social phenomenon, the publication leaves little scope for controversy and argument except that one might disagree with the application per se of a particular technique in view of a country's peculiarities in matter of its statistical base and ultimate objective of a specific development project.

Since the failure in a specific development project can be due as much to the faulty formulation as to the unscientific evaluation and monitoring, it would have been in the interest of the complete range of treatment, ii the publication had discussed the scientific methods of project formulation as well.

The bibliography given towards the end of the publication considerably adds to its value as a reference book.