Introduction to section on values in evaluation praxis
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Author | Ayesha S Boyce |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X19892526 |
| Subject Matter | Praxis |
research-article2019
Praxis
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2019, Vol. 19(4) 195 –198
Introduction to section on
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values in evaluation praxis
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X19892526
DOI: 10.1177/1035719X19892526
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Ayesha S Boyce
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Abstract
There has yet to be consensus within the field on whose and what criteria, or values,
should be used to judge program worth. Furthermore, evaluators continue to grapple
with decisions about which stakeholder values are to be included in evaluation,
and if evaluators should be advocating or prescribing certain values or not. This
introduction very briefly highlights the discourse associated with valuing in evaluation
and summarizes the four articles in the Values in Evaluation Praxis section.
Keywords
introduction, praxis, stakeholders, valuation, values
Values are at the etymological heart of evaluation.
Mabry (2010, p. 83)
Evaluation itself is a ‘values-laden enterprise’ (Hall et al., 2012, p. 196), with evalua-
tors judging the merit or worth of a programme or policy based on a selected set of
criteria (Scriven, 1991). However, there has yet to be consensus within the field on
whose and what criteria, or values, should be used to judge programme worth
(Schwandt, 2015). For over 40 years, evaluators have participated in scholarly delib-
eration about the difference between values and facts (Scriven, 1980), the fact-value
continuum (House & Howe, 1999), types of valuing in evaluation (Shadish et al.,
Corresponding author:
Ayesha S Boyce, Department of Educational Research Methodology, University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, 252 School of Education, 1300 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
Email: ayesha.boyce@uncg.edu.
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