GSNE TIG Week: An Inductive Exercise for Identifying Values by Randi Knox

Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Hello, fellow evaluators! I’m Randi Knox, an early-career evaluator and current Program Chair for AEA’s Graduate Student and New Evaluator’s TIG. In this blog, I share a seven-step process I use for exploring and understanding my values. I encourage other early-career evaluators to follow these steps to clarify their values—and let me know how it goes!

I realized how important it is to define my values when I felt the uncomfortable chafing at doing work that was not aligned with my values. I was trying to apply an analytical method that was new to me and was feeling uneasy about my efforts. I was frequently interrupted by the thought, “Why am I doing this?” and I didn’t have a good answer. On reflection, I realized the data were probably not a good fit for the method. This fact nagged at me, but I tried to dismiss it by thinking, “I see others use this method in the literature!” and “The internet said it’s okay!” The heart of the matter was that my actions were conflicting with my values, but I didn’t see it.

One reason I struggled to recognize I was acting contrary to my values was because I had not done enough to identify my values. This brought up a new question: “How do I identify my values?”

Rad Resource:

Here, I’ve adapted the steps from a resource that helped me figure it out:

1. Identify a time when you felt completely in your element. Perhaps this is a moment where you felt totally absorbed in the moment, living your best life, showing up as the most authentic version of yourself, feeling fulfilled. Write out the moment in detail.
2. Note what stands out about the moment you described. What about this moment allowed you to feel completely and totally like yourself? What does this moment tell you about what is important to you? Write down what comes to mind without any judgement.
3. Pick one or two things from your list. Select the thing(s) that stand out as most important or salient to you. Each statement or word you write down points towards a value.
4. Define your value(s) in your own words. Draft a definition, then work through ambiguity until you arrive at wording that rings true for you.
5. Name your value(s). The only rule is to pick a name that makes sense to you.
6. Repeat steps 1-5. You’ll create a collection of moments that illustrate your values in action. Which values do you see repeated? Which values feel most important to you? By the end of this practice, you will have identified a few (about 5-7) ‘core values.’
7. Compare your values with AEA’s Guiding Principles and Competencies & Standards. This will allow you to situate your values in the terms of the field.

I spent 3-4 weeks going through the steps above to identify my values. Now, when the question of “Why?” pops into my mind, I examine what I’m doing (or being asked to do) and how it compares to my values.

Prior Eval365 blogs

• Valerie Marshall reflects on her career and experiences that helped her identify her values.
• Evan Poncelet shares how he uses his values and provides additional Rad Resources.
• Eden Kyse and Erin Bunger Johnson provide tips and tricks for identifying values as a team.
• Mine Pabari and Alejandro Imbach highlight the importance of creating space for surfacing and discussing values in cross-cultural contexts and share Rad Resources for facilitators.
• Andrea Nelson Trice discusses the reality of divergent values in international contexts.

AEA is hosting GSNE Week with our colleagues in the Graduate Student and New Evaluators AEA Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our GSNE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.