Mario Steyer teaches and conducts research at the Hochschule Campus Wien (HCW) on the Public Management degree programme, where he also teaches courses in evaluation. For him, evaluation is an ideal field for applied research: practice-oriented, methodologically challenging and socially relevant.

During our conversation, we discuss why there is still no dedicated training programme in evaluation in German-speaking countries – most evaluators tend to discover this profession rather by chance, as their careers progress. What Mario simply refers to as ‘Saarbrücken’ is the long-established Master’s programme in Evaluation at Saarland University – for a long time one of the few structured training opportunities in the DACH region.

Evaluation is by no means an issue that concerns only public administration – but it is intended to serve as a model for the reflective and responsible design of policies. The fact that it has so far only done so to a limited extent is one of the key tensions we examine in this episode.

We also discuss the skills required for effective evaluation work: a nuanced approach to AI, a sound methodological grounding in empirical social research – and the often underestimated soft skills needed to mediate between stakeholders and communicate findings clearly.

Finally, Mario shares insights from his own research: he is specifically looking at the reflection process involved in course evaluation at the HCW – an example of how evaluation can also be used as a tool for quality development in a higher education context.

The provocative quote in the title does not come from our guest himself, but from a publication by the political scientist Peter Biegelbauer.

Links zur Folge:

Music: Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) (ft. Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza) by spinningmerkaba http://ccmixter.org/people/jlbrock44; SouljaUnit Remix of DeadRobot Music’s Surfy via https://freesound.org/people/SouljaUnit/sounds/640175/
Photo: Hübl (HCW)