Evaluation as a Circuit Breaker: Dealing with the Hazards of Hidden Stakeholder Conflict
| Author | Katherine Biedrzycki,Catherine Hurley,Angela Lawless |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X1101100108 |
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
38 Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2011
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2011, pp. 38–44
REFEREED ARTICLE
Evaluation as a circuit breaker: dealing
with the hazards of hidden stakeholder
conflict
This article explores the experiences of an external
evaluation team in dealing with the use of evaluation to
reveal and confront hidden conflict among the program
and policy staff involved in a number of community-
based early childhood health services. The evaluation
was political from the outset, with a number of highly
invested groups of stakeholders divided into competing
camps in relation to models of practice, power and
control issues that arose when attempting to integrate
separate services within one region. In uncovering this
conflict, the evaluation became the means by which
dialogue between the different stakeholders was
opened up and contentious issues examined. The
processes used by the evaluation team in tackling this
highly charged review are discussed in an effort to raise
awareness of this potential use of evaluation and to
enhance practice.
Introduction
It is commonly acknowledged in evaluation texts that evaluation of any
given program or project may have a number of purposes. Some of these
purposes may be the usual ones about increasing knowledge and providing
accountability—and are stated at the outset. However, it sometimes occurs
that other purposes for an evaluation are unstated or only become clear
as it unfolds. The following article explores the experiences of an external
evaluation team dealing with the use of evaluation to confront and explore a
number of undiscussed issues and tensions among program and policy staff
involved in several community-based early childhood health services.
In the introduction to their Handbook of Evaluation, Shaw, Greene &
Mark (2006) identify the purposes of evaluation to be to:
generate information to improve decision-making
■
improve program operations and practices ■
develop and test knowledge about social problems and solutions ■
enhance democratic processes and advance ideals ■
improve the wisdom of practitioners to make practice choices. ■
Earlier Patton (1997) had identified three main purposes for evaluation
that involve: judging worth or merit, improving programs and generating
knowledge. Any, or all, of these could be present in evaluations conducted
in human services. For example, while the evaluation of a single program
Catherine Hurley
Angela Lawless
Katherine Biedrzycki
Catherine Hurley (top left) is a Senior
Research Officer at the South Australian
Community Health Research Unit, Flinders
University, Adelaide.
Email: <catherine.hurley@flinders.edu.au>
Angela Lawless (top right) is Deputy Director,
Training and Development of the South
Australian Community Health Research Unit,
Flinders University, Adelaide.
Email: <angela.lawless@flinders.edu.au>
Katherine Biedrzycki (bottom) is a Research
Officer at the South Australian Community
Health Research Unit, Flinders University,
Adelaide. Email: <katherine.biedrzycki@
flinders.edu.au>
EJA_11_1.indb 38 6/11/11 5:37:09 PM
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