PRIF Reports

Civic edu­cation in juvenile detention is multifaceted. However, what all offerings have in common is that they are intended to offer young people in detention spaces for discussion and reflection in order to strengthen their resilience in the face of anti-­democratic attitudes as well as their self-­efficacy. This reveals a field of tension: How are offers of civic edu­cation compatible with the structures in detention and how can they never­theless have a (better) effect? Eva­luations can start here to answer questions about good practices, effectiveness as well as usefulness and to sound out develop­ment potentials.

This report is based on a case study of the PrEval project in co­operation with two projects of the Federal Agency for Civic Education’s (bpb) funding line “Political Education in Juvenile Detention”. In an intensive dialogue between academia and practice and with the help of guided expert interviews, the specifics of the context and the target groups as well as the experts’ perspectives on civic edu­cation and its evaluation in this field were collected. The results are insights for future eva­luations of civic education measures in juvenile detention.

Download pdf: Tultschinetski, Sina/Rieth, Alisa/Theis, Désirée: Evaluation der politischen Bildung im Jugendstrafvollzug – Ansätze, Chancen, Herausforderungen, PRIF Report 12/2022, Frankfurt/M.

Additional material for download
As part of the case study, the researchers of the PrEval project have developed project diaries and evaluation question­naires together with practitioner partners. These materials are available for download here. They are intended for re­searchers, practitioners, and evaluators and can be tested, adapted, and further developed for specific purposes. The material is subject to the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0 International. Further information about the license and the authors can be found in the material.

• Project Diary Template
• Evaluation questionnaire for the "#Respect!" Project
• Evaluation questionnaire for the "Nachspielzeit" Project

The field of radi­calization prevention is highly dynamic and complex, which is why traditional forms of eva­luation sometimes fall short. Development-­oriented approaches such as Develop­mental Evaluation therefore seem promising. Develop­mental Evaluation sees projects as part of longer-term develop­ment and innovation processes and accompanies them in this develop­ment. It provides for a cooperative partner­ship between project implementers and eval­uators. However, this approach has not yet been applied in the context of radicalization pre­vention in Germany.

With this report, the authors present for the first time a case study that tests the use of Develop­mental Evaluation in this field. Together with practitioners from beRATen e.V., a counseling center in the field of neo-Salafist radi­calization prevention, they were able to gather initial experience and reflections on Develop­mental Evaluation. The result is a contribution to applied knowledge about how secondary and tertiary radi­calization prevention projects can be evaluated.

Download pdf: Schmidt, Olga/Liebich, Johanna/Klöckner, Mona/Walkenhorst, Dennis/Dziri, Bacem: Developmental Evaluation zur Begleitung von Entwicklungsprozessen in Projekten der Radikalisierungsprävention – ein Anwendungsbeispiel, PRIF Report 10/2022, Frankfurt/M.

Evaluations fulfill a variety of social functions and are also becoming in­creasingly important in German extremism pre­vention. How profitable and effective they are, however, depends to a large extent on existing eva­luation capacities.

With the help of a nationwide telephone survey of 104 eva­luation actors, the authors surveyed the eva­luation culture as well as existing capa­cities and resources in the field of external and self-evaluation. This report analyzes the data collected and provides a systematic overview of existing evaluation capacities in Germany as well as the potential for further develop­ment for effective and constructive eva­luation practice in the field of extremism prevention and civic education.

Download pdf: Uhl, Andreas/Freiheit, Manuela/Zeibig, Benjamin/Zick, Andreas: Evaluations­kapazitäten im Bereich der Extremismus­prävention und der politischen Bildung in Deutschland, PRIF Report 09/2022, Frankfurt/M.

The co­operation of civil society and security authority actors in the pre­vention of extremism and its evaluation pose a particular challenge. Here, very different actors with highly divergent concepts and working methods come together. Further re­quirements arise from data pro­tection and from various aspects of confidentiality and secrecy.

How can evaluation contribute to the development of a trusting, respectful and constructive interaction in which practice-­relevant results are exchanged, reflected and secured among the actors involved? And what opportunities and challenges do cooperation actors associate with evaluation? On the basis of 40 semi-structured interviews, the authors explore these questions, structure the needs identified and derive re­commendations for pro­fessional practice, research, politics and ad­ministration.

Download pdf: Junk, Julian/Koynova, Svetla/Ohlenforst, Vivienne/Ruf, Maximilian/Scheu, Lea: Evaluation und Qualitätssicherung in der Kooperation sicherheitsbehördlicher und zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure in der sekundären und tertiären Extremismusprävention, PRIF Report 8/2022, Frankfurt/M.

Evaluations in extremism pre­vention are often the subject of contro­versial debates. In order to be able to design eva­luations in a practical and goal-­oriented manner in the future, needs must be system­atically assessed from a practical perspective. In this context, the authors of the PrEval project surveyed 429 practitioners in the field of Islamist extremism and right-­wing extremism for the first time on the topics of evaluation, scientific monitoring and quality management.

This report focuses on eva­luation needs and experiences within the diverse landscape of extremism pre­vention. It also introduces key terminology, compares eva­luation standards, and places them in the context of scientific knowledge. The result is recommendations for the areas of quality manage­ment and evaluation in German extremism pre­vention, which are intended to serve further develop­ment in the field.

Download pdf: Koynova, Svetla/Mönig, Alina/Quent, Matthias/Ohlenforst, Vivienne: Monitoring, Evaluation und Lernen: Erfahrungen und Bedarfe der Fachpraxis in der Prävention von Rechts­extremismus und Islamismus, PRIF Report 7/2022, Frankfurt/M.

Dissociation and de­radicalization work is essentially characterized by multi-agency settings: Various actors work together to stabilize clients with multiple problems and to co-­produce a dissociation from extremist groups and ideologies. This co­operation is based on a strong division of labor and takes place in a variety of collaborative structures. However, eva­luations to date have rarely taken this complexity of distancing work into account, as they often (have to) focus on individual projects or organizations.

In order to obtain indications for an evaluation that takes into account the multi-­agency character of the work, the authors conducted interviews with employees of organizations involved in dis­sociation and de­radicalization work. The results show how eva­luations could be designed that take into account multi-­agency settings and entire support networks in which the clients are embedded. Against this background, the report introduces the term “client-­centered evaluation” and formulates re­commendations for funding sources, eva­luators, and practitioners.

Download pdf: Johansson, Susanne/Junk, Julian/Liebich, Johanna/Walkenhorst, Dennis: Klienten­zentrierte Evaluation in Multi-­Agency-­Settings der Extremismus­prävention. Möglich­keiten und Grenzen eines wirkungs­orientierten Vorgehens, PRIF Report 6/2022, Frankfurt/M.

When evaluating social programs, such as in the field of extremism pre­vention, it can be beneficial to include several research methods (multi­methodology) and actor perspectives (multi­perspectivity) in order to do justice to the object of evaluation. In imple­mentation, however, multi­method evaluations can look different. Based on a comprehensive analysis of published evaluations, this report describes how multi­methodology and multi­perspectivity are implemented in the broad field of social science evaluation research. The report compares the im­plementation of multi­method and multi­perspectivity across different disciplines such as education, health, politics, communication, and justice, and thus provides guidance for an appropriate approach to eva­luation in extremism pre­vention.

Download pdf: Klöckner, Mona/Verhovnik-Heinze, Melanie/Schlicht-Schmälzle, Raphaela/Nakamura, Reiko/Strunk, Julius: Multimethodische Evaluationsdesigns: eine Erhebung der sozialwissenschaftlichen Praxis, PRIF Report 1/2022, Frankfurt/M.

The mass dis­semination of dis­information via digital media poses ever greater challenges to the democratic formation of opinion and will. The Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) is therefore developing its own formats to promote the media literacy and media criticism skills of young adults and to educate them about the dangers of dis­information on the Internet as a place of socialization. To this end, the bpb worked on the “UnFAKE” project with so-called “creators” in order to address their followers at eye level and to convey civic education content via web video formats.

The authors of this report have scientifically accompanied the creation and publication of these web videos in order to gain insights into the process and impact evaluation of such formats. In dialogue with bpb staff, they developed eva­luation approaches and participatory instruments and tested them within the framework of the project. The pilot study presents the project as well as the tested evaluation instruments and discusses which potentials the use of web videos and livestreams offers in the context of civic education.

Download pdf: Theis, Désirée/Verhovnik-Heinze, Melanie/Kroll, Stefan/Kierek, Keshia: Webvideos und Livestream zur Aufklärung über Desinformation. Evaluationsansätze zu digitalen Formaten in der politischen Bildung, PRIF Report 8/2021, Frankfurt/M.

The “Aussteiger­programm Islamismus” of the State of North Rhine-­Westphalia (API) and the PrEval research network are jointly pre­paring a call for tenders for an impact-­oriented evaluation of the API program. In this report, the authors describe the necessary dialogical procedure for preparing the eva­luation process and derive re­commendations for the evaluation actors involved. This systematic reflection on the preparation of an impact-­oriented evaluation design offers guidance for commissioners of eva­luations, evaluators, evaluated projects and programs, but also funding agencies.

Download pdf: Klöckner, Mona/Koynova, Svetla/Liebich, Johanna/Neef, Lisa (2021): Erfahrungen aus der Evaluationsplanung eines Aussteigerprogramms. Voraussetzungen für Wirksamkeitserfassung in der tertiären Extremismusprävention, PRIF Report 6/2021, Frankfurt/M.

The question of how civic edu­cation and extremism pre­vention measures can be effectively evaluated to ensure their quality is highly relevant – both for pro­fessional practice and for the responsible authorities. Co­operation between practitioners and researchers can help to implement evaluation projects and quality manage­ment processes in a way that is relevant to needs and practice. This report uses a pilot study as an example of how this collaboration can be shaped in the develop­ment of evaluation designs. The authors analyze the challenges and conditions for success, also with regard to further evaluation projects. In particular, they address the principles of participation, multi­perspectivity and multi­methodology.

Download pdf: Schlicht-Schmälzle, Raphaela/Theis, Désirée/Tultschinetski, Sina/Verhovnik-Heinze, Melanie/Kautz, Christian/Kirchmann, Maryam (2021): Erfolgsbedingungen und Herausforderungen für die Zusammenarbeit von Fachpraxis und Wissenschaft bei der Evaluation von Angeboten politischer Bildung, PRIF Report 5/2021, Frankfurt/M.

Pre­venting and countering violent extremism (P/​CVE) is an emerging field with a wealth of valuable ex­perience but without proven recipes for success. Eva­luation – the systematic and objective assessment of ongoing or completed activities – helps P/​CVE actors to learn from this ex­perience in ways that are immediately useful for current and future projects, which com­plements the equally pressing need for applied research. The relative youth of the P/​CVE field and its inter­vention approaches makes evaluation particularly important to help funders invest effectively and avoid adverse effects.

A key part of making eva­luations as useful as possible is to develop effective institutional structures that shape who influences how evaluations are targeted, commissioned, funded, and conducted, and to what extent their results are used to inform future action. This study surveys inter­national examples of eva­luation structures to inform German P/​CVE policy.

Download pdf from gppi.net

The study has also been published in German. Download German pdf: Asena Baykal, Asena/Bressan, Sarah/Friedrich, Julia/Pasquali, Giulia/Rotmann, Philipp/Wagner, Marie (2021): Extremismusprävention evaluieren: Institutionelle Strukturen im internationalen Vergleich. GPPi-Study, Berlin.