Collaborative Evaluation in North America: Evaluators' Self-reported Opinions, Practices and Consequences1

Abstract

Despite growing theoretical interest in collaborative and participatory forms of evaluation, little is known about evaluators' perceptions about such evaluation practices or their views about its viability. This article reports results from a survey of Canadian and American evaluators concerning such perceptions. Five-hundred and sixty-four evaluators responded to questions about their views and opinions of collaborative evaluation and a subsample of 348 (61.7%) also described a specific collaborative evaluation project in which they had recently participated. The survey results suggested that evaluators support a utilization-focused, stakeholder-servicearientation to the role and believe that the evaluator has a primary responsibility of maximizing intended use for intended users. Reported practices suggest that most evaluators engaged in collaborative activities that resemble the conventional stakeholder-based evaluation approach. These data are neither able to, nor are they intended tosupport one side or the other in the professional debate about whether evaluators ought to embrace collaborative evaluation as a legitimate direction within the profession. Rather, they add to the empirical knowledge base concerning this type of evaluation.