ABSTRACT
PIP: In the belief that self-assessment is a valid technique of evaluation, self-assessments were gathered in the effort to help evaluate the administrative capabilities of specific programs essential to the economic development of Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. The government of each country established agricultural development programs in the late 1960s in order to improve the production of rice, the major food crop. The data for analysis were collected by means of lengthy interviews with a random sample of rice production officials in the 4 countries. By using the self-anchoring scale, administrative personnel evaluated their administrative systems in their own terms. The free-answer responses demonstrated that, even at the local level, program personnel are aware of the major issues which confront policy-makers and administrators in their countries. Their criteria for assessing administrative capability emphasize different aspects of resource inputs, administrative procedures, and policy outputs. Significant differences emerged in the degree to which administrative practices measured up to the ideals of rice program officials in the 4 countries. Officials in the Philippines were consistently more optimistic and assessed their conditions more favorably than respondents in other countries, and this is particularly true of assessments of the capabilities of the rice program itself. Indonesian rice officials were less enthusiastic about their own program in comparison to government programs as a whole. The Koreans found that current government performance in general came closest to their expectations. The Thais were more favorable in their assessments of their personal situations and of the rice program.^ieng
