Editorial
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X1701700401 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
2Evaluation Journal of Australasia Vol 17 | No 4 | 2017
Editorial
Lyn Alderman | Liz Gould | Carol Quadrelli | Bronwyn Rossingh | Editors
committing players within the evaluation domain to a
renewed pattern of thinking that sees attitudinal change.
Such change responds to governmental-based accountability
demands and other changing landscapes to ensure that
evaluators are on their toes and ready to reposition and
reshape evaluation towards achieving what is highly valued
and beneficial in the contexts to which they work.
The first paper in this issue by Gullickson and Al-Nawab
promotes the use of formative evaluation as being critical
for small grant funded projects to remain responsive by
having ongoing access to real-time evaluative data for
decision making during the life of the project. The paper
describes the process, strategy and development of the
tools and resources and recommendations arising. This
theory based participatory approach uses logic models
as the core activity and teaching tools to identify the
formative assessment needs. The process involved engaging
principal investigators, evaluators, senior sta and experts
to create the logic models to necessitate the learning to
improve practice and reporting. This paper advocates the
use of formative evaluation and demonstrates the benefits
to be gained from creating an international and multi-
disciplinary space for engagement and interaction.
The second paper in this issue by Kotvoj, uses a case study
approach to test the application of a particular capacity
development evaluation framework on three initiatives
to improve the quality of evaluations in the international
development sector. Kotvojs’s study demonstrates the
improvements in the quality of evaluations from application
of the framework for capacity development in the
international development sector. The study explores the
use of the framework to better meet the information needs
of intended users through a shared understanding and
reveals that application of the framework during the design
process creates benefits over and above applying it later in
the project. A key finding was that the shared understanding
that the framework engenders helps to reduce the level of
fear of monitoring and evaluation for users.
It is with pleasure that we present the fourth and final issue
of the Evaluation Journal of Australasia (EJA) for 2017.
A good time to reflect on a successful year for the
Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) and the E JA after
an extremely well attended International Evaluation
Conference in September and the growth of the EJA as
it moves into 2018 under the publishership of SAGE.
This move creates further benefits for the AES and its
membership including: increasing visibility of the EJA to
maximise readership and citations; continued access to
EJA plus five other SAGE journals; 25% discount on SAGE
books; and circulation to over 8,000 institutions worldwide
with enhanced social media impact and outcomes, just to
mention a few benefits.
At the September conference the editorial panel of the EJA
once again presented a session on ‘how to publish in the
EJA ’. This was a well-attended session that provided a series
of helpful pointers for experienced and emerging evaluators
to get writing and seek support from the editorial panel.
The panel encouraged participants to use the peer review
system to get feedback but also seek collegial support to
build confidence. These sessions have seen an increase in
papers submitted and this is a positive outcome for the EJA,
particularly during this time of partnering with SAGE.
The conference is also gaining the interest and patronage from
more Indigenous evaluators both emerging and experienced.
Having Indigenous people presenting and co-presenting
is a real strength for the conference and for the AES. In
the future we hope to see a strong trend of Indigenous
authorship or co-authorship of papers arising from
evaluations and research conducted in Indigenous contexts
as part of the AES’s commitment towards strengthening and
building Indigenous evaluation capacity and promoting the
importance of culturally competent evaluators.
This current issue of the EJA presents a theme of analysis
and reflection of systems, processes and use relating to
the building, testing and improving evaluation models
to achieve best practice. These authors test the space by
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