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Session Title: Engaging Participants in the Evaluation Process: A Participatory Approach
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Multipaper Session 842 to be held in San Simeon A on Saturday, Nov 5, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM
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Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| David Fetterman,
Fetterman & Associates, fettermanassociates@gmail.com
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| Discussant(s): |
| David Fetterman,
Fetterman & Associates, fettermanassociates@gmail.com
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Participatory evaluation and the degree of democratic discourse in program design
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| Presenter(s):
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| Helga Stokes, Duquesne University, stokesh@duq.edu
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| Abstract:
The presentation examines the role of evaluation in two school change attempts, one characterized by user design of improvements, the other proposed by a funder, shaped by the central administration and seeking buy-in from schools. In the current school change debate voices can be heard that improvements and changes ought to originate from core stakeholders, mainly teachers and students. Changes and improvements should take into account the local context and be based on local strengths and weaknesses. Often a learning program is developed, tested and then distributed to a large educational system with little user participation. Evaluation is done by outside evaluators and adjustments to the program are conceived outside the school context. What would it look like if the cycle of program design, implementation and evaluation resided largely in the users' hands? How would the evaluation be implemented and the results be examined and used?
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Theory Building Through Praxis Discourse: A Theory- And Practice-Informed Model Of A Transformative Participatory Approach To Evaluation
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| Presenter(s):
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| Michael Harnar, Claremont Graduate University, michaelharnar@gmail.com
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| Abstract:
The discipline of evaluation is built upon its descriptions, its language, and its approaches towards practice. The development of one such approach - Participatory Evaluation - has focused almost entirely on a practical model, leaving a transformative model mostly neglected. Transformative Participatory Evaluation (T-PE) practitioners find little theoretical or practical guidance in the evaluation literature. This paper redresses this discrepancy by presenting a theory- and practice-informed model of T-PE that will help further discipline development by providing practitioners a model reflecting their work. LeBaron Wallace, Hansen, and Alkin (2009) used qualitative literature analysis to develop logic models reflecting Practical Participatory Evaluation and Transformative Evaluation but overlooked T-PE. The present research extends that work by developing a model of T-PE using both quantitative and qualitative methods that inform one another. The product is a theory- and practice-informed model of a transformative participatory approach to evaluation practice.
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