Developing Culturally Responsive Surveys

Abstract

Considerable empirical research, along with a growing body of conceptual and theoretical literature, exists on the role of culture and context in evaluation. Less scholarship has examined culturally responsive surveys in the context of international evaluation. In this article, the authors present lessons learned from the development, implementation, and analysis of surveys used to evaluate the struggle of Brazil’s quilombos, or former fugitive slave communities, for land rights and livelihood. The authors begin with a brief review of the culturally responsive evaluation literature, making the case for culturally responsive surveys. Following a brief introduction to quilombo communities, they discuss their survey work, including their efforts to be culturally responsive and the challenges they confronted. The article concludes with the lessons learned for culturally responsive survey inquirers.