The Evaluation Exchange
Volume XI, No. 3, Fall 2005
Issue Topic: Democratic Evaluation
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange periodical focuses on democratic
evaluation. At the forefront of the discussion are equity and inclusion in the
evaluation of programs for children, families, and communities, as well as evaluation
to promote public accountability and transparency. Katherine Ryan leads off
the issue by presenting major theoretical approaches to democratic evaluation.
Several contributors examine these different strands, highlighting the importance
of power sharing. Jennifer Greene emphasizes the importance of broad inclusion
of stakeholder perspectives in evaluations, while Saville Kushner offers guidelines
for people and communities to help evaluation reposition itself as a collaborative
effort and thereby begin to address the crisis in public trust between the professional
bureaucracy and citizens. Kathleen McCartney and Heather Weiss focus on public
accountability, especially the conduct of flagship evaluations to maintain their
scientific integrity while also serving the public good. Several contributors
provide practical methods and tools to promote democratic evaluation, including
the facilitation of dialogue, the training of youth researchers, the use of
photovoice and cell phone technology, and access to interactive information
through the Internet.
Download the print version of the issue as a PDF file below or click on
the links in the table of contents to read the individual articles on our website:
Table of Contents
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather
B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Theory & Practice
- Democratic Evaluation Approaches for Equity and
Inclusion
Katherine Ryan, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University
of Illinois, describes three approaches to democratic evaluation and argues
that they can provide field-tested methods for addressing equity and inclusion
issues in evaluations of programs for children, youth, and families.
Promising Practices
- Evaluating Evaluation Data
Kathleen McCartney and Heather Weiss of the Harvard Graduate School of
Education describe the conditions for evaluations to maintain scientific integrity
and serve the public good despite a politicized environment.
- Program Evaluation in a Democratic Society: The Vera
Model
Tim Ross, Research Director at the Vera Institute of Justice, explains
Vera's rigorous and multitiered data collection process and the benefits of
partnerships with public programs.
- Getting Creative in Holding Officials Accountable
Dennis Arroyo describes the performance-monitoring mechanisms
that nongovernment agencies use to make public officials accountable to citizens.
- The Many Forms of Democratic Evaluation
Ernest House, Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado, argues
that democratic evaluation calls for more ingenuity than other forms of evaluation
and that as a result its methods can take many forms.
- Combining Research Rigor and Participatory Evaluation
Anju Malhotra and Sanyukta Mathur from the International Center for
Research on Women describe a study in Nepal that compared participatory and
more traditional approaches to evaluating adolescent reproductive health interventions.
Beyond Basic Training
Questions & Answers
- A Conversation With Jennifer Greene
Jennifer Greene of the University of Ilinois talks about her efforts to
advance the theory and practice of alternative forms of evaluation, including
qualitative, participatory, and mixed-method evaluation.
Spotlight
- Democratic Evaluation in Practice
Cheryl MacNeil, an evaluation consultant, describes the asymmetries of
power in evaluation and her efforts to make her evaluation practice more democratic.
- Social Capital in the Connected Society
Andrew Nachison, director of the Media Center, an organization that
studies the intersection of media, technology, and society, writes about social
capital and democratic processes in a digital society.
Evaluations to Watch
Ask the Expert
New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives,
and other resources related to the issue's theme.
An expanded, web-only version of this section is
also available.
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange was published by Harvard Family
Research Project. The managing editor for the issue is M. Elena Lopez , Ph.D.,
senior consultant; the contributing editors are Elizabeth Blair, graduate student
at HGSE, and Margaret Post, consultant;
and the assistant editor is Margaret
Caspe, consultant. It was produced by Stacey
Miller, publications/communications manager, and Carrie-Anne
DeDeo, publications editor. All rights reserved. This periodical may not
be reproduced whole or in part without written permission from the publisher.
To request reprint permission or multiple hard copies of the issue contact Stacey
Miller.
Harvard Family Research Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the
Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation, and the C. S. Mott Foundation. The contents of this publication
are solely the responsibility of Harvard Family Research Project and do not
necessarily reflect the view of our funders.
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