Collaborative Evaluation

Collaborative evaluation is a type of evaluation in which there is a substantial degree of collaboration between evaluators and stakeholders in the evaluation process to the extent that they are willing to [Page 324]be and capable of being involved. Collaborative evaluators are in charge of the evaluation, and they create an ongoing engagement between evaluators and stakeholders, contributing to stronger evaluation designs, enhanced data collection and analysis, and results that stakeholders understand and use. This entry further defines collaborative evaluation, presents a model for collaborative evaluations (MCEs), and discusses considerations when performing collaborative evaluation.

Collaborative evaluation is an approach that offers many advantages, including access to information, quality of information gathered, opportunities for creative problem solving, receptivity to findings, and the use of evaluation results. From a broad perspective, collaborative evaluation belongs to the use branch of the evaluation theory tree described by Marvin Alkin, concerned with enhancing evaluation use through stakeholder involvement. Through collaborative evaluation, it is possible to achieve a holistic learning environment by understanding and creating collaborative opportunities. In such an environment, stakeholders better understand the evaluation process and are therefore more likely to use its findings.

Collaborative evaluation has grown in popularity, bringing together evaluators and stakeholders from different sectors, disciplines, and cultures to exchange knowledge on how collaboration can be used as a strategic tool for fostering and strengthening evaluation practice. The literature about collaborative evaluation has increased in both quantity and quality, providing an opportunity for others to gain insights about this approach. One of the first related journal articles was “Researcher as Participant: Collaborative Evaluation in a Primary School” by Edward Booth, published in 1987. At the time, this entry was written, databases key word search with “collaborative evaluation,” either in the title or in the abstract of the journal article, yielded a wide variety of titles appearing in evaluation journals, such as the American Journal of Evaluation, International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation, Journal of Evaluation and Program Planning, Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, and Studies in Educational Evaluation. In addition, a number of books have made original contributions to the development of collaborative evaluations; some of these are listed in the Further Readings section at the end of this entry.

The steady maturation of collaborative evaluation has been shown as well by the contributions of national and international evaluation associations. For example, in 1995, the American Evaluation Association created the Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Topical Interest Group. Since then, interest in collaborative evaluation has grown, as evidenced by the increasing number of presentations made every year at the American Evaluation Association conference. There has also been an increase in collaborative evaluation presentations at conferences around the world. This evaluation approach also has a growing number of supporters and has benefited immensely from feedback.

In an effort to facilitate understanding of this approach, some authors have structured a collection of comprehensive frameworks that outline the elements of collaborative evaluation while being grounded in the American Evaluation Association’s Guiding Principles for Evaluators and within the evaluation literature. These conceptual frameworks have emerged from those authors’ working experience and have been especially useful for novice evaluation practitioners in trying to understand how others view and apply collaborative efforts in a variety of settings.

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