263: The Use of Data Envelopment Analysis in Evaluation: A Scoping Review

Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) is a powerful quantitative approach to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of decision-making units(DMUs) in both public and private sectors. After being introduced in the late 1970s, it has been used in various fields due to being a data-driven approach. In 1986, DEA was the subject of an entire New Directions for Evaluation volume, but it has rarely been explored again in the field of evaluation since then. Especially given the increased availability and use of big data in evaluation, there is a need to revisit DEA and explore its potential applications and implications for evaluation. This scoping review explores what the published literature reveals about the nature of DEA and its relationship to the core evaluation concepts of evaluative thinking, reasoning, and ethics. This study provides an overview of DEA, describes the scoping review process, and highlights the applications and implications of applying DEA in evaluation.