What is it?
After grappling with trying to create a definition for myself, and deciding it was a bit like trying to stuff a wriggling octopus into a small box, I gave up and consulted Wikipedia (as one does). The following quote helped me to see that I clearly was not alone in trying to pin it down to a definition that was “one size fits all.”
Davidson (2005) argues ‘evaluation is not a discipline that has been developed by practicing professionals over thousands of years, so we are not yet at the stage where we have huge encyclopaedias that will walk us through any evaluation step-by-step’, or provide a clear definition of what evaluation entails (cited in, Hurteau, Houle, & Mongiat, 2009, p. 307
Hurteau, M., Houle, S., & Mongiat, S.(2009). How Legitimate and Justified are Judgments in Program Evaluation?Evaluation.15(3).307-319.
So, using Davidson’s argument it became clear that a key problem that evaluators face is the lack of a clear definition of evaluation. That lets me off the hook from formulating a definition and led me to consider
Why evaluate?
The generic, simplistic response is that we evaluate to gain feedback. In my situation where we are training students to become counsellors we are constantly evaluating our programme in terms of course design, our delivery, student understanding, student performance, student satisfaction. At the end of the day I, along with my team colleagues, have to stand with hand on heart and declare that each student who has gained their diploma in counselling is a safe and effective counsellor who at the very least will do no harm when let loose on the general public.
After grappling with trying to create a definition for myself, and deciding it was a bit like trying to stuff a wriggling octopus into a small box, I gave up and consulted Wikipedia (as one does). The following quote helped me to see that I clearly was not alone in trying to pin it down to a definition that was “one size fits all.”
Davidson (2005) argues ‘evaluation is not a discipline that has been developed by practicing professionals over thousands of years, so we are not yet at the stage where we have huge encyclopaedias that will walk us through any evaluation step-by-step’, or provide a clear definition of what evaluation entails (cited in, Hurteau, Houle, & Mongiat, 2009, p. 307
Hurteau, M., Houle, S., & Mongiat, S.(2009). How Legitimate and Justified are Judgments in Program Evaluation?Evaluation.15(3).307-319.
So, using Davidson’s argument it became clear that a key problem that evaluators face is the lack of a clear definition of evaluation. That lets me off the hook from formulating a definition and led me to consider
Why evaluate?
The generic, simplistic response is that we evaluate to gain feedback. In my situation where we are training students to become counsellors we are constantly evaluating our programme in terms of course design, our delivery, student understanding, student performance, student satisfaction. At the end of the day I, along with my team colleagues, have to stand with hand on heart and declare that each student who has gained their diploma in counselling is a safe and effective counsellor who at the very least will do no harm when let loose on the general public.
Misha I love the analogy with an octopus - so many arms to evaluation and none of them stay still for long. It is interesting to find out that evaluation is a relatively "new science".
ReplyDeleteI wonder how did our ancestors gather feedback and evaluate their activities? For example, is the lack of evaluation the reason why chamberpots were happily tipped out of windows and into the streets in the US and Europe for many years up until the mid 1900s? Or was evaluation the primary reason why the practice was changed? I have written more about this on the Summary weeks one to three - Part three on the Course blog.
Your definition of evaluation may be simple but it is true - it is all about feedback, and also about getting feedback for improvement and to ensure quality. What do you think?
I've thought more on this since I wrote. Yes it is about feedback for improvement to ensure quality. And... but what is quality feedback and how to ensure that it is quality? I guess that is the nuts and bolts of this course in a way. The octopus keeps wriggling those arms around and definitely doesn't want to be boxed. Yet I appreciate that there are models and processes for quality feedback. I am getting closer to defining what I want to do for the Assessment. Maybe I am managing to contain a few of those octopus arms. Will write more about that when I have a bit more clarity.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the chamberpots! Was it evaluation of the situation that brought about the change in practice or was it that better ways were developed for managing sewerage that caused them to evaluate whether to change their practice or not. To tip or to flush? - perhaps that was the question!
Hi Misha
ReplyDeleteI agree, there no clear definition for evaluation. What I think is if the information we gather along the process can be used to improve our service delivery and achieve customer satisfaction then no matter what tools we use, but we can call it evaluation…
Cheers
Mareena