The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) provided evaluation services to DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The work  was through the EPEC consortium and COWI via a multiple framework contract on evaluation services and methods.

EPEC (TIHR, GHK and Technopolis) in association with COWI was commissioned by the European Commission to deliver evaluation and evaluation related services to DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. TIHR and partners were involved in the following lots:

• Lot 4: Provision of support in the development and pilot testing of methods and tools for evaluation, evaluation-related activities and impact assessment;
• Lot 5: Provision of support in the use of methods and tools for evaluation, evaluation related activities, including impact assessments.

The framework contract started in 2009 onwards.

Objectives

Two project examples under the framework contracts are: 

• An impact assessment of the costs and benefits of introducing paternity leave at EU level;
• Developing logics of intervention and related common indicators for the next European Social Fund operational programmes.

Methodology

The TIHR and partners used a wide range of evaluation frameworks and methods, including: 

• Summative evaluation, formative evaluation, process evaluation, action research;
• Experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, matched comparison design;
• Theory of change, intervention logics, problem trees, social trend analysis, objective trees, analysis of administrative data, analysis of causality, statistical analysis.