Evaluation Theories/Week 13: 4/16/14: Connecting Theory to Practice: Context, Culture and Ethics (TA Led)
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See the Program Evaluation Standards
In-Class PSYCH 315z – Comparative Evaluation Theory 2014-04-16
TA-Led class today. 15 minutes at end of class for final paper.
- Cultural Competency
- Fitzpatrick INterview Discussion
- Standards & Guidelines for Ethical Evaluations
- Activity: Ethical Dilemmas
What exactly is culture? “Our shared experience; can include language, values, customs, belief.” -
- Can include factors such as gender, religion, …
- Is not fixed, and can change over time
- Often embedded in the context of hte system
Culture shapes our behaviors and perspectives, and in turn our behaviors and perspectives can shape culture.
Relationship with evaluations:
___
We bring our own culture to the evaluation; and the beneficiaries we interact with all have their own cultures and perspectives that they bring.
Examples of how culture might shape different parts of an eval?
- Measurement issues;
- Identification of stakeholders;
- Will affect Communication in general, and often slow it down.
It also shapes the:
- Type, setting, evaluand
- All phases of the evaluation
- Questions asked, data collected
- How data is interpreted and recorded.
Evaluation can’t be “culture free” - the influence of cultural values and perspectives highlights the importance of evaluations being “culturally competent” in order to . . .
Assimilation, acculturation, and how that affects the evaluator.
If these are ignored, then the evaluation can be flawed and have detrimental effects / consequences.
Cultural Competency[edit | edit source]
Cultural Competency is “…a stance taken toward culture, not a discrete status or simple mastery of particular knowledge and skills” (AEA Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation, 2011)
It’s the perspective that you bring: it’s not a “yes/no” question: cultural competence depends on the situation. Having the mindset to be open and respectful to other’s e(xperiences...)
Activity[edit | edit source]
What program was being evaluated?
What was the purpose of the evaluation and who did the evaluator arrive at this purpose?
Do you think the approach, design, and methods were a good match for context and purpose?
What political issues were particularly salient in their evaluation?
How did the evaluator respond to these issues?
You will be assigned to read a comprehensive document on each of these sets of standards.
i is 5
Group 5
We should have already gone through a process with the client to determine what constitutes an acceptable measured effect.
If no time to work with stakeholders: What do we report? - Write report where we include data, show that we could not find a strong.
If we can work with stakeholders, what do we do next? -
Go to them to go through the process of identifying without letting them know that we already have the results, (which could bias them).
Assumption: Feasibility; Tradeoff: Justified Conclusions and Impartial Reporting vs. Human Interactions (not