Informal evaluation

From EvaluationWiki

All of us do a great deal of informal evaluation in the course of everyday life-at the market, when shopping online, in reading travel brochures and ads in the newspaper and magazines, etc. But, as many studies have shown, we are too easily swayed by considerations that are not closely connected to quality or optimality of the cost/benefit balance. Strict training in evaluation pays off in improving informal evaluation as well as professional evaluation, because one automatically checks several considerations that are too often skipped by the untrained (although often very experienced) shopper. Some of these are now made more easily remembered by certain requirements in the U.S., e.g., that estimated lifetime costs in electricity be presented clearly in stickers on refrigerators, thereby reducing the temptation for manufacturers to skimp on insulation thickness or quality. But both those with evaluation training and those without it, should use the guides based on (reasonably) good product evaluation published by consumers associations or hobbyist magazines (e.g., for woodworkers), since doing so can lead to very large lifetime savings. It is unfortunate that at least this practice and its benefits are not tied into basic education for all.