Evaluation

Evaluation is a field of inquiry that generates questions, seeks answers, examines action and impact and promotes change. Despite the fact that we are constantly evaluating in our daily lives, many people do not understand evaluation. The reason for the confusion stems from the fact that like action research, evaluation strives to observe, analyze and stimulate change. These activities are often perceived as a form of inspection and are met with suspicion and negativity. Both fields deal with the following questions: What are we doing? How are we doing it? Does it work? Can we do it better? The main difference between the two is that evaluation looks at someone else's programme or intervention while action research examines one's own programme or action. The first part of this entry will present a broad description of the field of evaluation. Then we relate it to action research, followed by evaluation methodologies, and ending with the issues facing evaluation, including ethics, politics and use.

In order to understand the field of evaluation, it is necessary to define the major players in an evaluation and the purpose for which an evaluation is commissioned. The commissioner of the evaluation is the person or persons who have a financial, administrative or ideological stake in the operation and results of an intervention. Commissioners enlist the help of an evaluator to determine questions of the value, worth and merit of a programme or intervention. The object of the evaluation, be it a programme, an intervention or an organization, is called the evaluand. In addition to the commissioner, stakeholders include those who operate the evaluand, those who participate in it and those who benefit from it. The evaluator or evaluation team consists of professionals trained in research methods and evaluation approaches, often in another, related discipline, such as anthropology, education, management, psychology, sociology and statistics, to name but a few. Evaluations are commissioned for a variety of reasons. Funding agencies often request an evaluation to verify that their money is spent well. Governments request evaluations to make sure that the taxpayers' money is invested well. Programme designers and providers request evaluations to determine whether to continue, disseminate or terminate interventions. Organizations commission evaluations to examine the effectiveness of the organization or the effect of interventions on and within the organization to learn from their success or failure. Decision-makers and policymakers request evaluations to help them make educated decisions concerning an intervention, programme or policy. All evaluations should inform stakeholders and generate knowledge and learning that lead to a better functioning society. However, it is important to keep in mind that the reason for the evaluation drives the evaluation design and frequently involves either internal or external political concerns.

Programme evaluation traditionally belongs to two separate but sometimes overlapping types: formative and summative. Formative evaluation examines the implementation of the programme, and summative evaluation examines the impact of the programme. Formative evaluation focuses on studying the intervention, its goals and its strategies and examines the extent to which the actual implementation matches the intended implementation. Furthermore, formative evaluation can examine short-term results. The evaluator provides stakeholders with a thick description of the programme, and they decide whether it is being implemented as intended and, if not, what changes need to be made in order to fulfil their expectations.

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