Goal-Free Evaluation

GFE Development

Michael Scriven introduced GFE in 1972 somewhat in opposition to the goal-based evaluation (GBE) models that dominated—and still dominate—program evaluation practice. With GBE (also known as objectives-oriented evaluation), the evaluator judges the program according to the attainment of the program’s goals and objectives. However, Scriven noticed that product evaluators rarely ask the product designers or manufacturers what they intended to do; rather, the product evaluator examines the product, develops criteria and performance standards, and then tests the product all while disregarding the manufacturer’s specific goals or objectives. Consumer Reports’ evaluations epitomize this process. Scriven analogizes GFE to the double-blind pharmaceutical study in which the evaluator is not privy to outcomes that the drug is supposed to produce; rather, the evaluator searches for all relevant positive, negative, or neutral effects.

GFE Principles

According to Brandon Youker, there are four principles underlying GFE. The first principle is that the goal-free evaluator identifies relevant effects or outcomes without referencing the program goals or objectives. Second, the evaluator investigates what actually happened or is happening without the cuing of the goals and objectives. The third principle of GFE is one of attribution, which determines what occurred and whether there is a logical connection between the outcomes and the intervention. The fourth principle is determining the degree to which the outcomes are positive, negative, or neutral.

GFE in Practice

GFE is amenable and adaptable to use with many evaluation models and data collection methods. The only caveat is that the model does not require goal orientation; therefore, historically, goal-free evaluators combined GFE with other evaluation models such as CIPP, utilization-focused evaluation, success case method, constructivist evaluation, and connoisseurship, among others. Furthermore, goal-free evaluators have preferred qualitative data collection methods with their GFEs. Most GFEs have included methods such as interviews with impactees, direct observation of program activities, review of program documents, utilization of preexisting checklists, and administration of open-ended survey questionnaires. Yet, there is nothing that obligates the goal-free evaluator to use qualitative methods. In fact, a few GFEs have included the counting of program outputs, used quantitatively based surveys that ask stakeholders to rate the program on general program characteristics, and administered standardized psychometric and educational assessments, for example.

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