Valuing, evaluation methods, and the politicization of the evaluation process
Author(s) -
Chelimsky Eleanor
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
new directions for evaluation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.374
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1534-875X
pISSN - 1097-6736
DOI - 10.1002/ev.20008
Subject(s) - narrative , process (computing) , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , measure (data warehouse) , value (mathematics) , public relations , public policy , simple (philosophy) , computer science , political science , epistemology , law , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , database , machine learning , biology , operating system
Abstract The author argues that valuing is often about methodology, or questions about how to measure the value of a public program or policy, including how we measure the factual underpinnings of programs and how we synthesize information about issues relevant to public programs and policies. The organizational context is discussed as an important determinant of what methods are used, and that these decisions have become increasingly influenced by a single narrative—a narrative that sees increasing numbers of government programs and policies embodying a single idea, or positing a simple, one‐on‐one cause‐and‐effect relationship, both of which are established, not by evidence, but rather by suppressing existing evidence that is inconvenient to the particular idea or relationship being advanced. The implications of this single narrative on methodology are discussed and ways forward described. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.