Starting in the 1960s, the United States began investing heavily in public programming to fight poverty and improve quality of life. In conjunction with these heavy investments, the government began requiring program evaluations to determine whether those public programs were effective.

A program evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of data to examine program effectiveness and merit. 

Accountability: Grant funders often require evaluations to ensure donor and taxpayer dollars go toward worthwhile efforts. 

Organizational Learning: Practitioners can use program evaluations to make improvements to their programs and better serve the community. 

Accountability occurs when there are set performance expectations and one individual or entity has to give an account for their performance to another. In its most basic form, accountability is a common aspect of human life. We each have certain expectations that allow us to function in society. 

Accountability plays an important role in public and nonprofit management as these organizations must steward taxpayer and donor dollars while meeting community needs. 

Individuals learn. When organizations take that learning and use it to improve programs, processes, and services, that becomes organizational learning.

Program evaluations help organizations engage with their data. They can discover what's working, what's not working, and where they can make tweaks to increase effectiveness. 

This takes a little effort but can pay huge dividends! Research shows that, when organizations learn, they become much more effective and have greater client satisfaction. 

This research project seeks to answer the following research question:

How do various accountability environments impact organizational learning outcomes in the context of program evaluation within public and nonprofit sectors in the United States?

In answering this question, the research study also hopes to identify key strategies that public/nonprofit organizations use to make organizational learning easier, especially in high-accountability environments.

The methodology will explore this topic through two phases. In the first phase, a survey examines the statistical relationship between accountability and organizational learning. In the second phase, qualitative interviews will explore the best practices of public and nonprofit organizations that are successfully learning from their data.  

Thank you so much for your interest in this project!