While there are many components to any evaluation, perhaps none is more visible to clients than the practice of making recommendations. Yet, as a field, we have virtually no empirical understanding of how recommendations are used and what impact they have on programs and outcomes. This means, as a field, we have nothing to demonstrate the merit or worth of our most visible practice. In a profession whose very purpose is to determine whether programs have been well implemented and have had positive outcomes, we must ensure that our practices are also supported by evidence of proper implementation and positive outcomes. In this paper session, the authors make the case for increased empirical study of recommendations by first summarizing the extent literature and identifying what is known and not known, then demonstrating how these gaps threaten the integrity of our profession. Finally, the authors propose a research agenda to strategically advance the field in recommendations. #ResearchonEvaluation #EvaluationUse #recommendations #2011Conference