Assumption-aware tools and agency; an interrogation of the primary artifacts of the program evaluation and design profession in working with complex evaluands and complex contexts |
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| Institution: | 1. Payson Program for Global Development, Tulane University, 6823 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70118, United States;2. African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), Hosted by World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya;1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, Asheville, NC 28804, United States;2. Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Department of Community Health Behavior & Education, Statesboro, GA 30460, United States;3. University of South Florida, Department of Educational Measurement and Research, Tampa, FL 33620, United States;1. Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, 9725 3rd Ave. NE, Suite 401, Seattle, WA 98115, USA;2. Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, 1120 NW 14th St., Suite 1014, Miami, FL 33136, USA;3. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA;1. Faculty of Economics and Management, National University of Malaysia, UKM Bangi, 43600 Selangor, Malaysia;2. Department of Strategic Management and Globalization, Copenhagen Business School, Kilevej 14, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark;3. Syntek Corporation, 4.669 Evaluation and Planning, 2279 Mershon Drive, Ann Arbor, 48103 MI, United States;1. Oregon State University, 118B Milam Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States;2. California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States;3. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States;4. University of Maryland, College Park, Columbia, MD, United States;5. Yale University, CT, United States |
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| Abstract: | Like artisans in a professional guild, we evaluators create tools to suit our ever evolving practice. The tools we use as evaluators are the primary artifacts of our profession, reflect our practice and embody an amalgamation of paradigms and assumptions. With the increasing shifts in evaluation purposes from judging program worth to understanding how programs work, the evaluator’s role is changing to that of facilitating stakeholders in a learning process. This involves clarifying purposes and choices, as well as unearthing critical assumptions. In such a role, evaluators become major tool-users and begin to innovate with small refinements or produce completely new tools to fit a specific challenge or context.We interrogate the form and function of 12 tools used by evaluators when working with complex evaluands and complex contexts. The form is described in terms of traditional qualitative techniques and particular characteristics of the elements, use and presentation of each tool. Then the function of each tool is analyzed with respect to articulating assumptions and affecting the agency of evaluators and stakeholders in complex contexts. |
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| Keywords: | Program evaluation Program design Assumption-aware Program tools Complex programs Complex context Agency Theory-based Participatory approaches |
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