Conceptualizing and Engaging in Reflective Practice: Experienced Evaluators’ Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine professional evaluators’ perceptions of reflective practice (RP) and the extent and manner in which they engage in RP behaviors. Nineteen evaluators with 10 or more years of experience in the evaluation field were interviewed to explore our understanding and practice of RP in evaluation. Findings suggest that RP is a process of self and contextual awareness, involving thinking and questioning, and individual and group meaning-making, focused on facilitating growth in the form of learning and improvement. The roles of individual and collaborative reflection as well as reflection in- and on-action are also discussed. Findings support a call for the further refinement of our understanding of RP in evaluation practice. Evaluators seeking to be better reflective practitioners should be competent in skills such as facilitation and interpersonal skills, as well as budget needed time for RP in evaluation accordingly.

Exploring NSF-Funded Evaluators’ and Principal Investigators’ Definitions and Measurement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

“…To further develop DEI-related work, it is important to be intentional in our efforts; specifically, our findings suggest that evaluators need to actively promote evaluative thinking and critical reflective practice in their work (Archibald et al, 2018;Buckley et al, 2015;Freire, 1996;Smith et al, 2015;Tovey & Archibald, 2022;Tovey & Skolits, 2021). Our work's embeddedness in context, culture, and humanness demands it.…”

“…Many evaluators have continued to pushback on the field's initial tenets requiring strict adherence to quantitative experimental/ quasi-experimental approaches and have argued that by very definition they preclude multifarious perspectives, voices, and ways of knowing (Boyce, 2019;Thomas & Madison, 2010). Many evaluators have ultimately endorsed reflection on ourselves as evaluators (Smith et al, 2015;Tovey & Skolits, 2021), the role of privilege (Hall, 2020), our context, the humans involved in program and evaluation activities (Tovey & Archibald, 2022;Tovey & Skolits, 2021), the prescription of values (House & Howe, 1999), cultural responsiveness (Frierson et al, 2010), and an equity orientation in theory and practice (Dean-Coffey, 2018).…”

Teaching specification of evaluative criteria: A guide for evaluation education

“…The transferability of these authentic and complex learning experiences to new settings can be improved through critical reflection. We recommend that supervisors guide learners in reflective journaling and dialogue to examine criteria specification, reflect on values and assumptions, and identify and track desired changes (Tovey & Skolits, 2022).…”

Evaluation in nonprofit organizations: A defense of perception as a managerial and scientific tool

“…In sum, some of the general literature in management science is beginning to return to a more reasonable view of management and evaluation of organizations (Odera, 2021; Tovey & Skolits, 2022; Trochim & Urban, 2021), joined by some conceptual or theoretical studies on NPOs that remind us that nonprofit evaluation is subjective and dependent to stakeholders' perception (Alaimo, 2008; Rey García et al, 2013). At the same time, empirical research dedicated to NPOs is still looking for an objective, rational and sometimes mathematical evaluation.…”