Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation
Esrea Perez-Bill, n/a
Research Project Coordinator
Northwestern University, Illinois, United States
Ruchi Mehta, MPH
Project Director & Evaluator
CAI (Cicatelli Associates, Inc.), United States
Becky Seel, MPH
Research and Learning Officer
Oregon Community Foundation, United States
Location: Grand Ballroom 9
Abstract Information: Dominant narratives of evaluation practice rely on problem solving, synthesis and convergence. Often, it seems we as evaluators are tasked with uncovering digestible answers to complex questions using tools rooted in deficit thinking, designed to skim over marginalized voices in the interest of time, efficiency, or statistical significance. But, to share one’s story is a vulnerable and difficult undertaking. It is a method of self-expression that can take time and require great personal effort, trusting relationships, and a safe environment to share. In this workshop, facilitators and participants will work to collectively cultivate that environment while engaging in an interdisciplinary dialogue about evaluation as a creative pursuit and tool for empowerment. Through skills practice, attendees will experience the tasks that we evaluators so often ask others to complete - describing needs, sharing experiences, providing feedback - while utilizing creative approaches which promote divergent narratives and uplift individuals’ unique stories.
Born from cross-disciplinary conversations among the facilitators, who met at AEA 2022, this workshop will promote a collaborative interrogation of evaluation education and training and re-envision evaluation as a creative pursuit. This workshop will ask attendees to consider their own experiences with storytelling, self-expression, and as professional evaluators. Using skills drawn from theater, visual art, and mindfulness, participants will explore the question: What would it look like to stray from the dominant logic which reinforces a mindset of lack and loss, and instead approach evaluation as a creative process which values divergence and abundance - of stories, solutions, and imagination?
Relevance Statement: Esrea Perez-Bill, Ruchi Mehta and Becky Seel met at AEA 2022 through Esrea’s session, “A Profound Emergence: Ushering in a New Generation of Evaluators who Resist Depoliticization, Oppressive Pedagogies, and Build Community along the Way”. Esrea’s creative approach to the session, grounded in Theater of the Oppressed techniques, re-examined dominant norms of evaluation in education and spurred continuing conversations among attendees who felt empowered to share our stories and ideas. In our respective fields of philanthropy, academia, and public health, we have all observed the desire and need among evaluators for more creative options.
Anne Manning from Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education emphasizes the valuable role of divergence in creative problem solving, especially in largely analytic cultures and for complex challenges[1]. Design thinking and adult learning theory also value creativity in project planning to build understanding, promote empathy, and broaden thinking. Thought leaders within the field of evaluation have discussed the value of creative evaluation, including Michael Quinn Patton[2], Nora Murphy Johnson, A. Rafael Johnson, and Molly O’Connor[3], and several open-source projects have aimed to make creative methodologies more accessible to evaluators [4,5]. Our workshop will build on these existing tools and frameworks to advance a collective shift in the field to recognize the value of evaluation methodologies based in creativity and artistic principles.
As evaluators, asking individuals – particularly marginalized individuals who have been historically unheard – to share their stories with us is a significant request not to be taken lightly. Evaluators are responsible for creating psychologically safe environments which promote honest and thoughtful sharing, and creative approaches can play a significant role in empowering individuals to truly express themselves in this way. Utilizing movement, art, games, or other creative activities as precursors to solution-based work cultivates psychologically safe environments which encourage freedom of expression with no wrong answers.
This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to practice several creative approaches to evaluation which can be used to empower individuals, center lived experience, and promote truth-telling. Building on the success of Esrea’s previous session at AEA, individuals will feel empowered to express themselves and share stories as vibrant and unique as they are.
In this workshop, participants will: (1) Hear several first-hand examples from facilitators about how creative approaches can be incorporated into evaluation work across multiple fields/disciplines, (2) Reflect individually on creative methods that speak to their own experience, (3) Collaborate with other attendees in creative problem solving, and (4) Engage in skills practice using methods drawn from theater, visual art, and mindfulness.
[1] Manning, A. (2016). Divergent vs. convergent thinking: How to strike a balance. Harvard Division of Continuing Education.
[2] Patton, M.Q. (1988). Creative evaluation. Sage.
[3] Grim, E. (2022). IC TIG Week: Creativity is Essential to Evaluation Practice—and For a Just and Equitable World by Nora Murphy Johnson, A. Rafael Johnson, and Molly O’Connor. AEA365.
[4] Willis Newson & The University of the West of England. (2015). Creative & Credible.
[5] Hield, A. (2012). Creative-Evaluation-Toolkit. Artworks Creative Communities.