For August’s journal club Michael Quinn Patton will lead a discussion of his article: How Far Dare an Evaluator Go Toward Saving the World?: Redux, Update, and a Reflective Practice Facilitation Tool (Patton, 2021).
The abstract is: In 2004, Robert Stake published a provocative article that asked: “How Far Dare an Evaluator Go Toward Saving the World?” This question raises the issue of what role evaluators’ values play in the conduct of evaluations. Following review of Stake’s premises, I present value statements from a diverse group of 40 evaluators working with philanthropic foundations. The results update and revise Stake’s list of “six advocacies common in evaluation.” The findings capture changes in evaluation language and substantive concerns over the last 15 years regarding evaluators’ values and engagement. The conclusion affirms Stake’s original overarching principle. In closing, I offer an additional concern toward saving the world not on Stake’s list or that of the evaluators sampled: global sustainability and environmental justice in the face of the global pandemic and climate emergency. This process of inquiry generated a facilitation tool for use by evaluators, presented here, to support reflective practice about evaluators’ values.
Below is the link to the article and it can be accessed if you log in via your AEA account:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098214020927095?journalCode=ajec
A Zoom link will be sent out to registrants the day before the event.
The journal club meets the third Wednesday of every month to discuss new and innovative evaluation topics.
AaEA’s monthly journal club features an evaluation article from evaluation journals and the gray literature. The purpose of these meetings is to offer an easy way for people to get a brief review of new topics, tools, and issues in the evaluation community. You are not required to read the article, but, try to if you can. So hop on the phone and sip your favorite beverage while listening to a summary of the article and joining in the discussion.
