Political processes in an academic audit: Linking evaluative information to programmatic decisions

Abstract

This paper discusses the political processes involved in an academic program evaluation. Specifically, the paper focuses on how evaluative information is politically linked to programmatic decisions within the context of various organizational and evaluative utilization models. Data gathered from a program evaluation conducted at a small (N=2,500 students), public, liberal arts university in the Southeast are used in examining the explanatory power of the various theories and models.