This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stake, R. Articles by Chaves, I. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Evolving Syntheses of Program Value

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 190 Childrens Research Ctr, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820

Christopher Migotsky

Rita Davis

Edith J. Cisneros

Gary Depaul

Christopher Dunbar

Raquel Farmer

Joan Feltovich

Edna Johnson

Brent Williams

Martha Zurita

Iduina Chaves

In this paper, we object to Michael Scriven's claim that the basic logic of evaluation is criterial and standards-based. We note that valuing is an integral part of perception and that valuing within perception, repeatedly refined, is an even more basic logic of evaluation. We find unpersuasive his claim that making the final synthesis "governed" will diminish bias, noting that bias will find its way into the required statements of need, function, standards and weighting. We offer our alternative for disciplining the synthesis process, by urging more systematic and demanding critiques of Robert Stake emerging interpretations and values, and by more deliberately using competing conceptual organizers (e.g., goals, issues, decisions and elements of the rules Scriven advocates) as temporary and dialectical grounds for reconsidering the evolving meanings of the program, including its merit and shortcoming.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?