Evaluating co-creation is more demanding than checking whether a project delivered its planned activities. A workshop may have taken place, a new tool may have been produced and participants may report a positive experience—yet the process may still have had little influence on decisions or service practice.
The evaluation therefore needs to examine both the quality of the process and the value of what it produced. The implementation study of Veikart in Sola municipality illustrates this approach. Researchers and municipal partners jointly developed the research questions, while focus groups and individual interviews explored the experiences of developers, employees and managers during initial implementation. The purpose was not simply to determine whether the tool “worked”, but to identify how it was understood, used, valued and constrained.
1. Relevance and shared problem framing
Begin by asking whether participants developed a sufficiently shared understanding of the problem. Did service users, frontline staff and managers recognise the issue being addressed? Were different experiences used to refine the problem, or was the solution largely decided before participation began?
Useful evidence includes early project documents, stakeholder interviews and comparison of how the problem is described by different groups. A strong process does not require complete agreement, but it should make differences visible and create a workable common direction.
2. Participation, inclusion and influence
Attendance is not the same as influence. Record who participated, who was missing, when different actors were involved and what decisions they could shape. Pay particular attention to service users and groups whose participation may require additional time, support, language access or alternative formats.
Interviews and observations can explore whether people felt heard, whether professional language dominated discussion and whether contributions were reflected in the final design. The key question is not “Were users consulted?” but “What changed because they participated?”
3. Collaboration quality and power
Co-creation brings together actors with different authority, expertise and organisational interests. Evaluation should examine trust, role clarity, conflict management, information sharing and the ability to make joint decisions. It should also identify whether responsibility became genuinely shared or remained concentrated in one project leader or organisation.
4. Outputs, implementation and feasibility
A co-created service model may appear attractive but still be difficult to use. Assess its relevance, usability, appropriateness and feasibility in everyday work. What time, skills, digital systems, consent procedures or leadership decisions are required? Does the new approach replace existing work, or does it become an additional task?
In implementation-focused evaluation, barriers are not evidence that the idea has failed. They are findings that show what must be adapted or anchored before wider use.
5. Learning and public value
Finally, examine whether the process created learning beyond the immediate output. Did participants gain a better understanding of other services or of residents’ experiences? Did collaboration routines, relationships or decision-making change? Is there evidence of improved access, continuity, participation or service quality?
Common mistakes include evaluating only participant satisfaction, waiting until the end to collect data, treating all stakeholders as equally powerful, and measuring outcomes before the new approach has been implemented consistently. A better evaluation follows the logic of the process: problem framing, participation, collaboration, design, implementation, learning and value.
The result should be more than a judgement. It should explain what was created, under which conditions, for whom, and what the organisation needs to do next.
Research references
Ellingsen, I. T., Olsen, G., Bozic, A., Høyland, I., & Sakkestad, Ø. (2026). Veikart for et samordnet tjenestetilbud i Sola kommune: Utvikling og implementering. University of Stavanger. DOI/source ↗
Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger. His work focuses on social innovation, collaboration, civil society, migration and psychosocial services. Available for selected research, evaluation and advisory engagements.
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