Premium
Thoughts About an Early Evaluation Life
Author(s) -
Scriven Michael
Publication year - 2016
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.20187
Subject(s) - value (mathematics) , curriculum , psychology , work (physics) , task (project management) , sociology , pedagogy , management , engineering , mechanical engineering , machine learning , computer science , economics
Scriven describes how he believes the early death of his father, constant intercontinental moving he experienced as a child, and associated fractures in relationships he began with peers influenced his “attitude towards the value of reason,” which is his “main professional area of publication and evaluation.” He recounts stories of developing his own evaluation life by running away from home at age 14 (following his father's example); writing an award‐winning essay on quantitatively evaluating acts of valor (as he wanted to be a RAF pilot like his father); pursuing math, science, and philosophy in college; critiquing parapsychology; evaluating sports cars; exploring and teaching critical thinking; deciding where to go to university and where to work; and eventually being pulled into professional evaluation by being asked to work on a White House task force that included evaluating university courses and curricula on critical thinking; and collaborating with other early evaluation theorists.