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This document introduces a special issue of the International Journal of Social Welfare on "Administrative Burden and Social Welfare." The issue aims to explore the causes and consequences of administrative burdens, as well as the experiences of individuals and their relationship to sociodemographic characteristics. The studies cover a range of topics, including the influence of digitalization, administrative errors, citizen strategies, and the role of third-party actors. The articles provide valuable insights into the complexities and consequences of administrative burden in various contexts, offering potential solutions for addressing these issues. [Extracted from the article]

Although combining methods is nothing new, more contributions about why and how to mix methods for validation purposes are needed. This article presents a case of validating the inferences drawn from the Participatory Evaluation Measurement Instrument, an instrument that purports to measure stakeholder participation in evaluation. Although the process was intended to be almost exclusively quantitative, one of its components unexpectedly turned into a mixed methods study. This, in turn, spurred on a cycle of instrument revision and further quantitative validation. Whereas the validation evidence is modest and tentative, it suggests that the revised version of the Participatory Evaluation Measurement Instrument offers a better fit with the respondents' opinions regarding the participation level of selected evaluation cases. The article concludes with a brief discussion on the added value of mixed methods for validation purposes.

Background: Stakeholder participation is an important trend in the field of program evaluation. Although a few measurement instruments have been proposed, they either have not been empirically validated or do not cover the full content of the concept. Objectives: This study consists of a first empirical validation of a measurement instrument that fully covers the content of participation, namely the "Participatory Evaluation Measurement Instrument" (PEMI). It specifically examines (1) the intercoder reliability of scores derived by two research assistants on published evaluation cases; (2) the convergence between the scores of coders and those of key respondents (i.e., authors); and (3) the convergence between the authors' scores on the PEMI and the Evaluation Involvement Scale (EIS). Sample: A purposive sample of 40 cases drawn from the evaluation literature was used to assess reliability. One author per case in this sample was then invited to participate in a survey; 25 fully usable questionnaires were received. Measures: Stakeholder participation was measured on nominal and ordinal scales. Cohen's [kappa], the intraclass correlation coefficient, and Spearman's [rho] were used to assess reliability and convergence. Results: Reliability results ranged from fair to excellent. Convergence between coders' and authors' scores ranged from poor to good. Scores derived from the PEMI and the EIS were moderately associated. Conclusions: Evidence from this study is strong in the case of intercoder reliability and ranges from weak to strong in the case of convergent validation. Globally, this suggests that the PEMI can produce scores that are both reliable and valid. (Contains 5 notes, 4 tables, and 1 figure.)

While participatory evaluation (PE) constitutes an important trend in the field of evaluation, its ontology has not been systematically analyzed. As a result, the concept of PE is ambiguous and inadequately theorized. Furthermore, no existing instrument accurately measures stakeholder participation. First, this article attempts to overcome these problems by using the works of G. Goertz (2006) and J. Gerring (1999) on concept formation and evaluation to assess current conceptualizations of PE. Second, an amended version of the framework developed by J. B. Cousins and E. Whitmore (1998) is proposed as an alternative to current conceptualizations. This amended framework is then operationalized and adapted in a participation measurement instrument. The proposed conceptualization and instrument have the potential to contribute to the production of sound empirical knowledge about evaluation and to reflections on PE practice. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 2 notes.)

Program take-up is a necessary condition for program effectiveness. Yet, non-take-up is a significant challenge for many social programs, including Québec's Supplement to the Work Premium (SWP), a refundable tax credit targeted toward long-term welfare clients. Based on interviews with 21 public actors and 46 program participants and nonparticipants, this study explains how low program awareness, the low value of the benefit and the significant administrative burden borne by potential and actual participants contribute to the non-take-up of the SWP in this sample. Moreover, four policy implications and recommendations that can inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of social programs, are derived from this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal audit is a contributive function to government performance. To achieve its objective of providing reasonable assurance of an organization's risk management, international standards and the texts governing the function require that it must be objective and independent. This article reviews the independence of internal auditors in the Québec public administration and presents an analysis of its implications. The data for this study come from a descriptive study of the internal audit function in departments and agencies produced by the Treasury Board Secretariat. According to our results, if the rules of perceived independence are well established in Quebec's public administration, the real independence of internal auditors could be strengthened and, the audit committee could play an important role in that respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'explanation' has attracted considerable attention in the social sciences, and particularly within political science. However, scholars are not always familiar with what explaining political phenomena means, let alone with what it entails for developing sound causal arguments. This article introduces Craig Parsons' typology of explanation before assessing its value for the causal analysis of political behaviour and processes. As argued, despite its limitations, this typology clearly maps four types of explanation in political science (institutional, ideational, structural and psychological) while helping scholars to combine them more rigorously when needed. This is why Parsons' typology has the potential to move political scientists to the 'next level' as far as 'explanation' is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic review and synthesis methods have gained wide acceptance within the social sciences and, as a result, many postgraduate students now consider using them for their thesis or dissertation research. However, students are rarely aware of all the concrete implications that their decision entails. This reflective narrative reports the experience of a political science student who began to conduct a systematic review as part of his Ph.D. dissertation but who did not complete it. The aim of this article is to identify challenges and lessons learned from this experience and to formulate recommendations for postgraduate students who wish to make an informed choice with respect to the use of these methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of policy paradigm, which was developed by Peter Hall in 1993, has given rise to an abundance of literature on ideas and policy dynamics. Despite its theoretical value, however, the original concept was insufficiently specified and has been used in problematic ways by many policy scholars, thereby undermining the validity of their descriptive and causal inferences. The main argument defended in this article is that scholars studying policy paradigms should devote as much attention to the ideas of policy makers as to the policies they adopt, while distinguishing between the two constructs as much as possible. This article reviews these issues and puts forward seven guidelines that aim to better circumscribe the concept of policy paradigm and improve research on ideas and policy dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]