Evaluation of Structural Funds - Methodological Aspects

The instrument o f evaluation is being more and more valued, and the need to deploy it is perceivable in almost every field o f activity. Evaluation should impose rational actions, therefore it has the same importance for the public sector as the market mechanism for the private sector. The visibly growing popularity o f evaluation research results from modern tendencies o f organization management (among others Total Quality Management, New Public Management), and in the context o f the European Union from the increasing role o f structural funds. This paper has a survey character and deals with problems o f evaluation in the wide perspective. The essential aspect o f study is the methodology conducting evaluation of structural fund. In this paper the peculiarities o f using different methods during individual evaluation phases have taken into account and preliminarily assessed their usefulness. Author has done the review of literature, legislation and Polish and UE documentation, as well as evaluation reports with the aim o f indicating tendency in the application of quantitative data in evaluation.