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

Nathan Morrow and Apollo M. Nkwake

Evaluation and Program Planning, 2016, vol. 59, issue C, 141-153

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.

Keywords: Program evaluation; Program design; Assumption-aware; Program tools; Complex programs; Complex context; Agency; Theory-based; Participatory approaches (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:epplan:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:141-153

DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.05.011

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