Theories of Evaluation
Lisa Frantzen, MBA
Associate Director, Evaluation & Learning
TCC Group, United States
Location: Room 205
Abstract Information: The evaluation theory tree is comprised of three branches: methods, use, and values. Over the years, there has been a shift towards the values branch of the tree. This shift, along with other societal changes, prompted our evaluation team to explore and recommit to how we are using values-based approaches and practices in our work. In this panel, our team will share the results of our deep dive into values-based approaches, including how these approaches intersect with each other and inform our work with nonprofits, foundations, and companies. Together, we will all increase our knowledge about values-based approaches and will learn from each other how to balance deep thinking and reflection with urgent demands.
Relevance Statement: Methods, use, and values are the three dominant branches on the evaluation theory tree (1). As an evaluation team with roots in the field going back decades, we’ve seen pendulum swings from one branch to the other. While for many years the predominant branch of the theory tree was use, in recent years it has moved towards values. We’ve heard and facilitated many deep conversations around different values-guided frameworks that we can use in our evaluations, and what practices evaluators can practically engage in to advance values-orientation in their practice. We’ve thought a lot about this and have done a deep dive on equitable practices and funder (and our own!) accountability to these practices. This led our team to develop different models of how equity was influencing our evaluative work (2). From there, we started to shift towards accountability and created a series of tools we named equity audits – that let us track and visualize how funder practices were leading to equity in selected grantee populations. We used these equity audits to have tough conversations with our partners about the extent to which equity was showing up in their work - solely as language or truly as transformative practice. While we felt our work in equitable evaluation mattered, we knew there was a lot left on the table. We decided to fully commit a year to exploring values-based approaches. This exploration was intended to be educational – helping us understand the theories and the relationships between different values-based approaches such as trauma-informed, disability inclusion, culturally responsive evaluation, decolonized evaluation, human-centered design, and others. We also wanted to better understand the intersectionality behind these approaches – how do disability inclusion and human-centered design interact? And how does that differ from putting a trauma-informed lens on human-centered design? Having been involved in many conversations with our clients where it felt like there was a struggle to move beyond a values conversation into meaningful changes to practice, we also wanted to hold ourselves accountable. How would we shift the work we are doing? What practices would we be able to commit to fully embedding into our own work? How willing would we be to push back on requirements that we saw as misaligned with our values? In this session we will share our journey and resulting commitments from this deep dive into values-based approaches to evaluation and learning. We’ll also allow opportunities for session attendees to reflect on their own experiences as well as what could be possible within their own organizations or with their evaluation commissioners/clients. We will structure the session so that participants leave having achieved three main goals: 1. Increased knowledge about a variety of values-based approaches to evaluation, including areas of intersectionality. 2. Increased understanding of how a firm focused on evaluation & learning can change its practices to better serve a values-based orientation. 3. Increased understanding of how to balance a year of deep thinking and reflection with urgent and competing demands. (1) - https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/5074_Alkin_Chapter_2.pdf (2) https://www.tccgrp.com/resource/equity-and-evaluation-models-of-how-equity-can-and-does-impact-evaluation/