Negotiating and Planning an Evaluation: An Example from a Youth Services Work for the Dole Program Activity
| Author | Yvonne Darlington,Theresa L Scott |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X1101100105 |
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| Published By | Sage Publications, Inc. |
| Subject Matter | Article |
11
Scott and Darlington—Negotiating and planning an evaluation: an example from a Work for the Dole activity
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2011, pp. 11–19
REFEREED ARTICLE
Negotiating and planning an evaluation:
an example from a youth services Work for
the Dole program activity
This article describes the negotiating and planning of an
evaluation proposal for a client, a job network agency
situated in Northern New South Wales. The evaluand
is a training-based Work for the Dole program activity
targeted at unemployed youth and overseen by a not-
for-profit community organisation.
The article begins by examining the social, political
and historical context in which the Work for the Dole
program is embedded, and considers the potential
impact of context on the evaluation process and
utilisation of the results. The evaluation proposal itself
covers negotiation, ethical issues, key evaluation
questions and methodology. The last section of the
article provides a critical review of the proposed plan
and discusses potential process issues.
Throughout, it is emphasised that developing an
understanding of the competing values of the many
stakeholders involved is fundamental to successful
negotiation and planning with all those involved in the
evaluation process.
Introduction
Developing an understanding of the critical role that negotiation plays
in the evaluation process is key to success for evaluators (Owen 2006).
So, for evaluation findings to be utilised, it is necessary for the evaluator
to recognise the differing political and organisational interests of the
stakeholders in order to ensure consensus is reached about methodology and
outcomes (Markiewicz 2005). Along with technical competencies such as
methodological and research skills, highly developed communication skills
are important for the professional evaluator, as well as the ability to use
‘empathic and assertiveness skills concurrently’ (Markiewicz 2005, p. 20).
In this article, we describe the negotiating and planning process for an
evaluation of a Northern New South Wales Job Network Agency (Agency),
contracted by the Federal Government to deliver services—such as job
matching, job search training, and Work for the Dole (WfD) work experience
placements—to unemployed people.
The focus of the evaluation plan, discussed in this article, relates to one
WfD program activity where the negotiation and the resulting plan developed
for the Agency was undertaken by the first author; however, the authors have
Theresa L Scott
Yvonne Darlington
Theresa Scott (top) is a research PhD
student in the School of Psychology
at the University of Queensland,
Brisbane.
Email: <t.scott@psy.uq.edu.au>
Yvonne Darlington (bottom) is a
Senior Lecturer in the School of Social
Work and Human Services at the
University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Email: <y.darlington@uq.edu.au>
EJA_11_1.indb 11 6/11/11 5:37:06 PM
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