The human dimension of program evaluation

Edward L. Vine, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA

Abstract

Social science issues play an important role in the evaluation of demand-side management (DSM) programs.
In the very early years of DSM program evaluation in the United States, there was a fair amount of social science research applied to the behavioral aspects of energy efficiency. Since the mid-198Os, however, there has been a heavy emphasis on impact evaluation, technical measurement, and engineering methodolo-gies.

Although some have articulated the need to integrate behavioral research into energy evaluation, most emphasis has tended to cater on the technical/engineering aspects.

Increasingly, however, the realizztion is growing that it is necessary to integrate important behavioral variables into impact evaluation techniques. In addition, it is being further recognixed that behaviorai research questions are central to a number of critical evaluation issues: e.g., design of samples for evaluation studies, net energy savings, self-selection bias, fret riders and free drivers, persistence of energy savings, process evaluation, and market impact evaluation.

Finally, it is increasingly being realixed that the utilisation of evaluation results relies heavily on behavioral factors. Social science researchers should be poised to expect a renaissance in behavioral research. As new techniques are developed and perfected, as the results of impact evaluations become more abundant, and as the gap between technical energy savings potential and realized savings becomes more visible, research regarding the "human dimension" of program evaluation will be crucial. This paper provides an overview of the human dimension of program evaluation and focuses on key evaluation issues in demand-side management which will require the use of social science research for addressing these issues. For people actively involved in conducting evaluations, the above statements should not be too surprising, and only confirm what they experience daily. However, for individuals new to this field, this paper should serve as an introduction to the critical behavioral issues affecting evaluation and, perhaps more importantly, as a stimulus to motivate more people to become involved in the human dimension of program evaluation.