Commentary: “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor”: the evaluator role in high stakes program design (original) (raw)

American Evaluation Association: Guiding Principles for Evaluators

American Journal of Evaluation, 2009

is a profession composed of persons with varying interests, potentially encompassing but not limited to the evaluation of programs, products, personnel, policy, performance, proposals, technology, research, theory, and even of evaluation itself. These principles are broadly intended to cover all kinds of evaluation. For external evaluations of public programs, they nearly always apply. However, it is impossible to write guiding principles that neatly fit every context in which evaluators work, and some evaluators will work in contexts in which following a guideline cannot be done for good reason. The Guiding Principles are not intended to constrain such evaluators when this is the case. However, such exceptions should be made for good reason (e.g., legal prohibitions against releasing information to stakeholders), and evaluators who find themselves in such contexts should consult colleagues about how to proceed. B. Based on differences in training, experience, and work settings, the profession of evaluation encompasses diverse perceptions about the primary purpose of evaluation. These include but are not limited to the following: bettering products, personnel, programs, organizations, governments, consumers and the public interest; contributing to informed decision making and more enlightened change; precipitating needed change; empowering all stakeholders by collecting data from them and engaging them in the evaluation process; and experiencing the excitement of new insights. Despite that diversity, the common ground is that evaluators aspire to construct and provide the best possible information that might bear on the value of whatever is being evaluated. The principles are intended to foster that primary aim. C. The principles are intended to guide the professional practice of evaluators, and to inform evaluation clients and the general public about the principles they can expect to be upheld by professional evaluators. Of course, no statement of principles can anticipate all situations that arise in the practice of evaluation. However, principles are not just guidelines for reaction when something goes wrong or when a dilemma is found. Rather, principles should proactively guide the behaviors of professionals in everyday practice. D. The purpose of documenting guiding principles is to foster continuing development of the profession of evaluation, and the socialization of its members. The principles are meant to stimulate discussion about the proper practice and use of evaluation among members of the profession, sponsors of evaluation, and others interested in evaluation. E. The five principles proposed in this document are not independent, but overlap in many ways. Conversely, sometimes these principles will conflict, so that evaluators will have to choose among them. At such times evaluators must use their own values and knowledge of the setting to determine the appropriate response. Whenever a course of action is unclear, evaluators should

What is Program Evaluation? Generating Knowledge for Improvement

Archival Science, 2004

In this introductory article, we discuss the nature of Program Evaluation, describing the concepts that underlie our formal and informal evaluative efforts. Program Evaluation, like any deliberate inquiry process, is about learning. The process explicates program purposes, activities, and outcomes and generates knowledge about their merit and worth. This knowledge can inform planning and lead to program improvement. We present and discuss various definitions of Program Evaluation, focussing on its purposes and uses. We also provide an overview of the inquiry process, grounding the search for merit and worth in the American Evaluation Association's Guiding Principles for Evaluators. Because program evaluations are typically conducted to inform decision makers, we discuss aspects of professional practise that contribute to the use of an evaluation.

Considerations in the Implementation of Program Evaluation

1973

Given the current, apparently favorable, .climate for introducing and implementing prograi evaluation schema, the author _ questions factors mitigating against success, and variables relevant to program evaluation..He cites two types of prpblems: technological or instrumental problems of methodology and measurement, and evaluation process into technological versus value aspects and, in preparatich. for program evaluation, cites the need for the simultaneous consideration of both technological and value aspects. Besides the issues of incredibility and confidence, there are the following-difficulties in program evaluation: 11) there is ono one ways, to perform evaluation; (2) there is no generic logical structure that will assure a aright method of choices; (3) evaluation ultimately becomes judgment as long as there is no ultimate ordering of priorities; and (4) the critical element in evaluation is who has the right to decide..Some specific suggestions for program evaluation conclude the report..(Author/LAA)