Leading evaluation thinker Michael Quinn Patton has strong opinions on the terms ‘best practice’ and ’lessons learned’. In an article from 2001, he argued:

In the endlessly hyped knowledge age of the new millennium, evaluators are being asked to generate lessons learned and best practices … The demand for knowledge acquisition, which demonstrates membership in the elite ranks of learning organizations, has crescendoed into an organizational development and program evaluation mania. But just what is popularly meant by a best by a best practice*? What does it mean to* learn a lesson*? And what’s evaluation’s role in all this?*

2023-06-06 2 min read M&E

Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results-Based Management

This Glossary provides conceptual clarity on common terms used in results based management, monitoring and evaluation. This 2nd Edition includes new terms, as well as updates and improvements to the original Glossary published in 2002. It is intended to support thoughtful approaches to resultsbased management, monitoring and evaluation, which in turn support better progress on sustainable development through learning and accountability. Members of the OECD DAC Network on Development Evaluation and the OECD/DAC Results Community of Practice developed the Glossary, under the guidance of the OECD Secretariat. The text has benefited from consultation with many experts and partners in the broader evaluation and results communities, and input from other DAC subsidiary bodies. Note: This English-only prepublication version provides the full English text for reference. It will be replaced by the formal trilingual publication following translation and formatting.

2023-04-06 32 min read

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