ABSTRACT
In the original scheme of things, the individual policymaker was viewed as a rational actor who needed more and better information to make more and better decisions. The decision maker was portrayed as a thoughtful person who could be convinced by evidence and who would make sound judgments based on the merits of available knowledge. This knowledge directly shaped decision making, which led directly to action. The relation of information to action was presumed to be linear and straightforward. Yet, during the early conceptualization of the ways in which program evaluation might be used as a tool for organizational improvement, there was little to no attention paid to theoretical understandings of organizational learning processes or the manner in which organizations assimilated and used information.
