The evaluation of media programmes and products. Formative and participatory research

The primary aim of this article is to contribute to the delineation of a field of empirical research, not yet fully developed in Italy, that focuses on the evaluation of media programmes and products. Particularly the article touches three fundamental aspects: the cultural meaning of evaluation, which aspects to study, and the opportunity to promote, together with the evaluative research on programmes and products that have already been conducted, formative and participatory research aimed at evaluation of future programmes and products through collaborative processes between producers and users.