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Reflections of Emerging Evaluators: Constructing Evaluation Meaning in Situated Learning Contexts
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| Presenter(s):
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| Sallie E Greenberg,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
greenberg@isgs.uiuc.edu
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| A Rae Clementz,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
clementz@uiuc.edu
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| Ana Houseal,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
houseal2@uiuc.edu
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| LaShorage Shaffer,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
lshaffe1@uiuc.edu
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| Abstract:
How did you learn to be an evaluator? This paper presents a dialogic analysis of dimensions of evaluation salient to beginning evaluators as they struggle to make sense of evaluation as a practice. Results from the perspective of an ethnographic researcher studying a graduate practicum course on evaluation methods are presented in dialogue with the reflections, observations, and experiences of a group of students conducting their first “real” evaluation within a situated learning environment. The student narrative reveals their constructions of identity and understandings of “what constitutes a good evaluation,” “how do we start” and “at what point are we ready to join the profession as evaluators.” The researcher's perspective focuses on how these questions are translated into practice and subsequently transformed by practice. The entire discourse is framed around a view of evaluation as moral discourse and practical learning, as applied to learning how to become an evaluator.
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An Investigative Study on Evaluation Theory and Practice Using Conceptualization Method
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| Presenter(s):
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| Jie Zhang,
Syracuse University,
jzhang08@syr.edu
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| Abstract:
Empirical knowledge, defined by Smith, is experientially based knowledge acquired through formal study (Smith, 1983). This knowledge is constructed to be evaluation theories which explain the nature of evaluation and guide the evaluation practice. The link between evaluation theory and practice is still an area of much-needed inquiry (Shadish, Cook, & Leviton, 1991; Smith, 1993). The proposed study answers the calls for more empirical studies on evaluation theory and practice. It intends to explore the dynamic relationships between theory and practice in program evaluation. The assessment methodology, based on mental models, is quite unique and distinct from previous studies, which often adopted survey questionnaires. The study will collect mental models of evaluation theorists and practitioners, and inferences will be drawn on how evaluation theorists and practitioners perceive evaluation differently. The paper concludes with a summary of implications of the study to areas of program evaluation and instructional design.
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The Making of Evaluation: An Inquiry Into the Theory-practice Interaction in Evaluation
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| Presenter(s):
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| Jeehae Ahn,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
jahn1@uiuc.edu
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| Abstract:
Building on the previous works on the theory and practice relationship in evaluation, in this paper a novice evaluator further engages the issue by presenting a narrative in which she recounts her initiation into the world of evaluation via a specific program context as a way of exploring ways in which the evaluator makes sense of the theory-practice interaction in the field. Positioning the intersection of theory and practice as central to her evaluation, the presenter first delineates important conceptual features of her evaluation theory, and illustrates how they relate to her practical experience in the field by framing her narrative in such a way that honors and highlights the complexity and contextuality of the issues that arise from the ever-evolving entanglement of theory and practice.
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