Category Archives: Values-based

Alpine whaling? – Interesting developments in evidence-based policy, episode 2

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Patricia Rogers

While Japan has ‘scientific whaling’, Australia might be beginning a phase of ‘scientific alpine grazing’, reversing a policy of removing cattle from summer grazing in alpine national park in the name of research. (Thanks to a number of GenuineEvaluation readers … Continue reading →

Posted in Adequate scope, Appropriate criteria and standards, Appropriate inference, Appropriate measurement, Appropriate reporting, Commissioning evaluation, Evaluation team composition, Evaluative questions & answers, The client's role, Use of evaluation, Values-based | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Upcoming evaluation conferences – proposals due soon

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Patricia Rogers

Impact evaluation conference Cuernavaca, Mexico, June 15-17, 2011 Co-hosted by The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico (INSP), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the Center for Labor and Social Distributive Studies … Continue reading →

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Breaking out of the Likert scale trap

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Jane Davidson

A recent conversation with a colleague has reminded me of how traditional social science training has managed to hardwire our brains into some default thinking that needs to be questioned. Obviously, there are a lot of places one could go … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate measurement, Evaluative instrument design, Values-based | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Valuing processes and distribution of costs and benefits as well as outcomes

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Patricia Rogers

As part of our exploration of the need for making explicit the values in evaluation, let’s be clear that this is not just about what outcomes are valued. Sometimes we are not just interested in whether we’ve reached a destination, … Continue reading →

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Pushing sand uphill with a pointy stick? ‘No value-free’ in higher ed evaluation

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Jane Davidson

There’s a unique and extremely challenging barrier to singing the ‘no value-free’ parts of the genuine evaluation song in a higher education (a.k.a. tertiary education) setting. And that’s what Michael Scriven calls the value-free doctrine. Last week I delivered the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Values-based | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments