Too many uncontrolled variables make street-level performance fundamentally unevaluable
Evidence
Still another reason that street-level bureaucrats’ performance often eludes effective evaluation is that there are too many variables to take into account to make evaluation realistic. It is not only that human beings are complex and that a metric of correct responses is inappropriate. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 390
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Performance measurement resists uncontroversial validity in street-level bureaucracies. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 1201; Missing counterfactuals make outcome-based evaluation of street-level programs impossible — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 390; Street-level workers resist outcome metrics that omit controls for client difficulty — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 1220 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Performance measurement resists uncontroversial validity in street-level bureaucracies.
#corroborates(0.95) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1201 - Missing counterfactuals make outcome-based evaluation of street-level programs impossible
#expands(0.90) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 390 - Street-level workers resist outcome metrics that omit controls for client difficulty
#expands(0.85) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1220 - Predictability requires controlling variables, so heterogeneity defies guaranteed outcomes.
#expands(0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1895