Sociology as a Partial Influence on Evaluation Research

Abstract

Although most evaluators are not sociologists, Sociology is represented in the evaluation profession. To what extent does the presence of sociologists affect the content and emphases of evaluation projects? Reflecting on four projects on which I have served as an evaluator, I conclude that a background in Sociology has been important in the sense that it has led to an emphasis on structural arrangements that may provide a basis for a program's lasting impact. However, it is apparent that an evaluator's disciplinary background is only one of several influences on the content of an evaluation project. Stakeholder mandates and standard evaluation practices also have important influences on how an evaluation is conducted. The impact of disciplinebased content on the thinking and decisions of program administrators will vary according to the willingness of evaluation researchers to maintain regular communications, to insure that the rationale for discipline-based content is understood, and to present results in terms that can be understood by people outside one's discipline.Most evaluators are not sociologists. Rossi et al. (2004: 28) note that members of the American Evaluation Association are more likely to be have degrees in Education (22 %), Psychology (18 %), BEvaluation^(14 %), and Statistical Methods (10 %) than in Sociology (6 %). In fact, most disciplines are outnumbered by BOther and unknown( 21 %). The foregoing statistics are rather dated (1993), but there is no reason to believe that Sociology has achieved new-found dominance among evaluation professionals.