The Role of Evaluative Thinking in the Teaching of Evaluation

Archibald, Thomas

doi:10.3138/cjpe.69753

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The literature affirms the importance of education in the maintenance and growth of the evaluation profession (Archibald, 2021; Chouinard & Boyce, 2017; Diaz et al, 2020; LaVelle et al, 2020). This suggests that there needs to be an ongoing investment in Australian higher education evaluation programs (Gullickson et al, 2019; Poth et al, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities

Quadrelli

Staheli

Cook-Watkins

et al. 2022

Evaluation Journal of Australasia

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This article explores the current evaluation education program opportunities in the Australian higher education market and identifies potential research areas to inform pathways for future investment. Findings from our initial scoping phase are provided as a prelude to future work required in this space. The overarching research question investigates whether there is an opportunity to deliver further evaluation education programs in Australian higher education. Emerging from this question are three objectives: (a) to determine the current landscape of Australian university evaluation education program offerings; (b) to gain an understanding of the evaluation education discourse articulated within six selected evaluation journals and (c) to consider whether evaluation is a viable and meaningful discipline within higher education programs. An action research approach was adopted commencing with a benchmarking activity of Australian university offerings, followed by a bibliometric analysis of six evaluation journals, and concluding with a rapid scan of the literature. The selected methodologies reveal a potential gap in the higher education market, with the literature identifying inconsistent and mismatched programs while emphasising the need to invest in evaluation education. This article seeks to stimulate debate about formal higher education qualifications in evaluation and highlights the importance of potential future curriculum structure that can offer evaluators value, utility and growth.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities

Quadrelli

Staheli

Cook-Watkins

et al. 2022

Evaluation Journal of Australasia

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“…Six competencies equipping monitoring and evaluation experts to do this well have been outlined above, namely systems thinking competency, collaboration competency, anticipatory competency, and reflective, technical, and situational practice competencies. These types of "evaluative thinking" lenses can and should be used, as Archibald (2021) calls for an "ethical accountability" in locally led development. Valuesdriven sustainability can be a powerful driving force to improve public accountability and good governance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fostering Values-Driven Sustainability Through an Ex-Post Capacities Lens

Cekan/ova

2023

J Multidiscip Eval

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Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) work is driven by an array of values held by funders, implementers, M&E experts, and the project participants themselves. Some are explicit, such as embedding equity or democratization values into aid projects. Some are assumed, such as the truth of “values-neutral” evaluation or that long-term sustainability will result from projects. The author espouses Quinn Patton’s “activist interventionist change-committed evaluation” in pushing for ex-post evaluation of much development aid programming’s untested hypothesis about the sustainability of results without proof post-project. Programming approaches can make development results more sustained and can be monitored and evaluated. One set of activities is the participatory involvement of national and local stakeholders from the onset and during all stages of programming. The activism includes M&E experts pushing to include listening to local participants and partners via mixed-methods evaluations, especially by hiring local evaluators, and asking not only about donor-expected results but also about locally emerging outcomes, along with sharing learning at all levels, from local to donors. Focusing on the sustainability of outcomes and impacts involves those doing M&E and those involved in explicit sustainability planning from design, with national project stakeholders at every step. This chapter focuses on a roadmap of capacities and tools needed to foster sustainability pre-exit drawn from a decade of ex-post project closure evaluations. Current evaluators can help improve development practice and the durability of results by honing their capacities to evaluate the natural system on which most projects rest and how to foster resilience to climate change via M&E. Once this is built, transformations toward locally-driven development become possible.

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“…As discussed by Quadrelli and colleagues, many of these education‐focused articles may be attributed to the efforts of a few scholars soliciting and editing Special Issues for Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation , New Directions for Evaluation , and Evaluation and Program Planning . Topics have included broad landscapes of evaluator education (Gullickson et al., 2019; King & Ayoo, 2020), alignment of graduate education and evaluator competencies (LaVelle & Galport, 2020; LaVelle & Johnson, 2022; Poth & Searle, 2021; Sowl et al., 2022), cognitive complexity (Clinton & Hattie, 2021), service learning (Warner, 2020), authentic course assessments (Searle & Poth, 2021), student and practitioner reflections (LaVelle & Yang, 2021), dispositions (Davies, 2021), incorporation of evaluative thinking (Archibald, 2021), considerations for mentoring graduate students of color (Boyce, 2021), and the teaching and learning of evaluation with and within BIPoC communities.…”

Section: Recent Developments In Evaluator Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting the stage for critically defined and responsive evaluator education and training

LaVelle

Neubauer

Boyce

et al. 2023

New Drctns Evaluation

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This chapter describes the importance of evaluator education and some of the different ways in which evaluators can learn about the field.It discusses a historic perspective on evaluator education alongside its recent developments, and describes areas where further discussion is needed, including critical adult education, universal design for learning, and explicitly linking evaluator education with contemporary and anticipated future needs. It concludes by asking “what should evaluator education look like in the future?”

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The Role of Evaluative Thinking in the Teaching of Evaluation

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities

Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities

Fostering Values-Driven Sustainability Through an Ex-Post Capacities Lens

Setting the stage for critically defined and responsive evaluator education and training

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