From Silos to Ecologies: Towards an Ecology of Evidence to Navigate Solutions (Comparative Policy Evaluation)

From Silos to Ecologies offers a new way to understand how knowledge is generated, interpreted, and used to address today’s most complex social challenges.It introduces the concept with clarity and purpose, showing why single studies, narrow methods, or rigid evaluation systems are no longer sufficient for problems shaped by complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change.The book also points to issues of evaluation capture and the problematic levels of independence. Drawing on realist evaluation, in which real-world problems, rugged landscapes, and underlying theories of solutions, serve as starting points for testing--as well as systems thinking, and practice--the book argues for approaches that are more adaptive and grounded in real-world contexts.Humility and the fallibility of knowledge generation are part of that approach.Through contributions from leading scholars and practitioners, the volume demonstrates how different forms of evidence can work together to support better decisions i