The Action Plan for Official Languages Coordination Program Summative Evaluation

3.   Methodology

3. Methodology

The methodology used to evaluate the Coordination Program covered both activities initiated by the Department of Canadian Heritage (formally the Privy Council) and those initiated by the Department of Justice Canada. It included key informant interviews, a document review, and a review of similar initiatives. This section provides further details on each research method.

3.1. Key informant interviews

Interviews were conducted with key informants involved with the Privy Council, Canadian Heritage, and Justice Canada, as well as other federal departments. More specifically, the following key informants were interviewed:

A total of 28 interviews were conducted involving 33 individuals. Interviews were conducted by telephone or in person, as appropriate.

3.2. Document Review

In consultation with Canadian Heritage and Justice Canada, a series of relevant documents were identified and reviewed. These documents can be grouped under the following categories:

3.3. Review of similar initiatives

Two suitable coordination initiatives were identified in collaboration with Canadian Heritage for this review on the basis of their similarity in terms of scale and coordination function. For this review, appropriate documents from each initiative were gathered and reviewed, and interviews were conducted with key informants.

Key documents pertaining to the mandate, structure, processes, and expected outcomes of each initiative were reviewed, which included the following.

Key informant interviews were conducted to assess both the extent to which processes have been implemented as expected and in a cost-effective manner, and the results of these coordination initiatives to date. Three interviews, including a total of four key informants, were conducted in person or over the telephone, as appropriate.