IMPLICATIONS OF EU EVALUATION PRACTICES: FROM A POSITIVIST APPROACH TO A REALIST ONE IN EVALUATING 2007-2013 COHESION POLICY

The present paper aims to analyse the recommended evaluation practices at EU level and their possible implications on the results and recommendations formulated at the end of the evaluation process. To do so, I have built a model for analysing the theoretical assumptions behind the evaluation practices, and applied it to reports and TORs of evaluations requested by the European Commission regarding the Cohesion Policy in the 2007-2013 financial perspective.