Zeitschrift für Evaluation: Issue 2/2026, 25. Volume

Evaluations are a central component of evidence-based policymaking. However, their institutionalisation and concrete design vary considerably between policy fields. This study contributes to the discourse on the institutionalisation of evaluation by conducting a quantitative comparative analysis of evaluation practice in German environmental and transport policy. The analysis of field-specific evaluation practice is based on eleven structural characteristics. The results of the study suggest that environmental policy has so far been subject to stronger and more systematic evaluation than transport policy. Significant differences can be identified, particularly with regard to the period under review, the evaluation period, the spatial level, the object of evaluation, the scope of evaluation and the orientation towards actors. These characteristics can be interpreted as indicators of different institutional routines and normative-functional expectations of evaluation and point to different degrees and forms of institutionalisation of evaluation in the two policy fields. The present study also contributes to the theoretical and empirical foundation of the policy field-specific institutionalisation discourse of evaluation.

Keywords
environmental policy, transport policy, evaluation practice, evaluation characteristics