CIHR 5-Year Evaluation Plan 2008/09 - 2012/13

[ Table of Contents ]

Appendices

Appendix A. List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

CAHR Community Alliances in Health Research
CGSP Collaborative Genomics Special Project
CIHR Canadian Institutes of Health Research
CONSORT Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
CRC Canada Research Chairs
ET Emerging Teams
FAA Financial Administration Act
FTE Full-time Equivalent
ICE Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement
IESC Inter-agency Evaluation Steering Committee
IHRT Interdisciplinary Health Research Team
IRM Integrated Risk Management
KT Knowledge Translation
NET New Emerging Team
NSERC Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
OGP Operating Grants Program
PAA Program Activity Architecture
PHAC Public Health Agency Canada
PHSI Partnerships for Health System Improvement
PRE/SRE Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics/Secretariat on Research Ethics
RBAF Risk-Based Audit Framework
RCT Randomized Control Trials
RKTC Research and Knowledge Translation Committee
RMAF Results-based Management and Accountability Framework
RRG Research Resource Grant
SCPMEA Standing Committee on Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Audit
SPM Sub-committee on Performance Measurement and Evaluation
SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
TBS Treasury Board Secretariat

Appendix B. Legislation and policies as they relate to CIHR's evaluation and performance measurement functions

Appendix C. Risk Criteria and Risk-Based Rating System

The following definitions have been adopted for the purpose of this 5-year rolling Evaluation Plan.

The following definitions have been adopted for the purpose of this 5-year rolling Evaluation Plan.

Risk the possibility of a situation that will endanger CIHR, a CIHR Unit, a program or a specific project (in other words, risks are everything that gets in the way of the sustainable achievement of CIHR objectives and mandate).

CIHR has identified 5 criteria for priority ranking that constitute significant risk factors in the context of managing transfer payments programs:

Materiality - defined as the size of program/resource expenditures, or budget. Programs involving large amounts of public funds are considered to have a higher priority than smaller programs (4 points for very high materiality -- over $50M, 3 points for high materiality -- between $20-50M, 2 points for medium materiality - $9-20M and 1 point for low materiality -- under $9M).

Program Life-Cycle -- defined as a stage of a program's development. Programs slated for a renewal within the next 5 years and/or programs that terminate at that period and/or have a TBS requirement for evaluation are automatically given the highest score (3 points). When, within a PAA category, some programs require renewals, but no other requirements for evaluation exist, a medium ranking (2 points) was assigned. For programs with no renewals or TBS requirements the lowest score (1 point) was given.

Accountability History, or previous and upcoming evaluation-related activities, e.g., evaluations, performance measurement, audit, other activities. Programs that have comprehensive and recent evaluative coverage therefore receive low scores (1 point). Programs that have partial evaluative coverage within the past three years and/or also a shared program (e.g., Tri-Agency programs) receive medium scores (2 points), signalling that these programs might come up on the evaluation agenda soon. Programs that have incomplete evaluative coverage and/or coverage beyond 3 years, as well as the programs that are already slated for an evaluation in the coming few years are given the highest score (3 points).

Visibility. CIHR has a variety of stakeholders and clients with diverse information needs and interests (news media, citizen groups, general public, members of the health research community, other government agency, others). The visibility/profile/reputational risk is associated with the general interest of clients/ stakeholders in the program(s) and their results (e.g., maintaining or losing credibility, confidence of Canadians). Low visibility programs are given 1 point, medium visibility -- 2 points, high visibility -- 3 points.

Corporate and Strategic Priorities. CIHR commits to a broad set of expected results that are documented in its strategic directions and priorities documents. It is important for the Agency that programs most closely aligned with its strategic and corporate priorities receive adequate evaluation coverage to generate sufficient evidence to enable decision making at all levels. Thus, programs that are closely aligned with CIHR's priorities receive maximum score (3 points), moderately aligned -2 points and 1 point if not closely aligned.

Figure 1. Evaluation Planning Methodology and Risk-based Rating System

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