|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Reconceptualizing Evaluator Roles
Gary J. Skolits
University of Tennessee, gskolits{at}utk.edu
Jennifer Ann Morrow
University of Tennessee
Erin Mehalic Burr
University of Tennessee
The current evaluation literature tends to conceptualize evaluator roles as a single, overarching orientation toward an evaluation, an orientation largely driven by evaluation methods, models, or stakeholder orientations. Roles identified range from a social transformer or a neutral social scientist to that of an educator or even a power merchant. We argue that these single, broadly construed role orientations do not reflect the multiple roles evaluators actually assume as they complete the activities encompassing an external evaluation. In contrast to the current literature, this article suggests that typical evaluation activities create functional demands on evaluators, and that evaluators respond to these demands through a limited number of specified evaluator roles. This depiction of a set of specific multiple evaluator roles, generated in response to particular evaluation activities and their associated demands, has implications regarding how evaluation is conceptualized, practiced, and studied. This article concludes with a discussion of these implications.
Key Words: roles • evaluators • practice • research
References
- Alkin, M. C. (Ed.) (2004). Evaluation roots: Tracing theorists’ view s and influences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Campbell, D.T. ( 1969). Reforms as experiments. American Psychologist, 24, 409-429.[CrossRef]
- Cartland, J., Ruch-Ross, H.S., Mason, M., & Donohue, W. ( 2008). Role sharing between evaluators and stakeholders in practice. American Journal of Evaluation, 29, 460-497.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Cousins, J.B. ( 2001). Do evaluator and program practitioner perspectives converge in collaborative evaluation? Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 16, 113-133.
- Cousins, J.B., & Earl, L.M. ( 1992). The case for participatory evaluation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Theory, 14, 397-418.
- Dahler-Larsen, P. ( 2002). Evaluation in an organizational world. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 57-86). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Donaldson, C.I., Christie, C.A., & Mark, M.M. ( 2008). What counts as credible evidence in applied research and evaluation practice? Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Fitzpatrick, J.L., Sanders, J.R., & Worthen, B.R. ( 2004). Program evaluation (3rd edition). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Fetterman, D.M., Kaftarian, S.J., & Wandersman, A. (1996). Empowering evaluation: Knowledge and tools for self-assessment and accountability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Greene, J.C. ( 1988). Stakeholder participation and utilization in program evaluation. Evaluation Review, 18, 574-591.[CrossRef]
- Greene, J.C. (November, 2000). Reconsidering roles. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Honolulu, HI.
- Hopson, R.K. ( 2002). Making (more) room at the evaluation table for ethnography: Contributions to the responsive constructivist generation. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 37-56). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- House, E.R. ( 1993). Professional evaluation: Social impact and political consequences. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
- Kellogg Foundation. (1998). W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook. Retrieved January 7, 2008, from http://www.wkkf.org/pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub770.pdf
- King, J.A., & Stevahn, L. ( 2002). Three frameworks for considering evaluator role. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 1-16). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Lynch, K.D. ( 2007). Modeling role enactment: Linking role theory and social cognition. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 37, 379-399.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Mark, M.M. ( 2002). Toward better understanding of alternative evaluator roles. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 17-36). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Mark, M.M., Henry, G.T., & Julnes, G. ( 2000). Evaluation: An integrated framework for understanding, guiding, and improving policies and programs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Mertens, D.M. ( 2002). The evaluator’s role in the transformative context. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 103-118). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Montgomery, J.D. ( 2000). The self as a fuzzy set of roles: Role theory as a fuzzy system. Sociology Methodology, 30, 261-314.
- Morabito, S.M. ( 2002). Evaluator roles and strategies for expanding evaluation process influence. American Journal of Evaluation, 23, 321-330.[Abstract]
- Noblit, G.W., & Eaker, D.J. ( 1987, April). Evaluation designs as political strategies. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
- Owen, J.M., & Lambert, C.L. ( 1998). Evaluation and the information needs of organizational leaders. American Journal of Evaluation, 19, 355-365.[Abstract]
- Patton, M.Q. ( 2007). Utilization-focused evaluation (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Preskill, H., & Torres, R.T. ( 1999). Building capacity for organizational learning through evaluative inquiry. Evaluation, 5, 42-60.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Ryan, K. E., & Schwandt, T. A. (Eds.). (2002) Exploring evaluator role and identity. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Schwandt, T.A. ( 2002). Traversing the terrain of role, identify, and self. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 193-207). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Scriven, M. ( 1991). Evaluation thesaurus. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Segerholm, C. ( 2002). Evaluating as responsibility, conscience, and conviction. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 87-102). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Stronach, I., Halsall, R., & Hustler, D. ( 2002). Future imperfect: Evaluation in dystopian times. In K. E. Ryan & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Exploring evaluator role and identity (pp. 167-192). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
- Stufflebeam, D. ( 2001). Evaluator models. New Directions for Evaluation, 89, 7-106.
- Stufflebeam, D.L. ( 2003, October). The CIPP model for evaluation. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the Oregon Program Evaluators Network Conference, Portland, OR.
- Sullins, S., & Youker, B. ( 2006). Book review: Evaluator role and identify. American Journal of Evaluation, 27, 130-133.[Free Full Text]
- Turner, J.H. ( 2006). Role theory. In J. H. Turner (Ed.), Handbook of sociology (pp. 233-254). New York: Springer-Science.
- The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. (1994). The program evaluation standards (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Weiss, C.H. ( 1998). Evaluation: Methods for studying programs and policies (2nd edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Wholey, J.S. ( 2001). Managing for results: Roles for evaluators in a new management era. American Journal of Evaluation, 22, 343-347.[Web of Science]
This version was published on September
1, 2009
American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 30, No. 3,
275-295 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1098214009338872
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
L. J. Cooksy
Evaluators' Reflections on the Ethical Implications of Their Early Experiences
American Journal of Evaluation,
December 1, 2009;
30(4):
572 - 574.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
