The entanglement of facts and values: An example from an agricultural project in Honduras
| Author | Osvaldo Feinstein |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X19893081 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Praxis |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X19893081
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2019, Vol. 19(4) 199 –203
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1035719X19893081
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The entanglement of facts
and values: An example from
an agricultural project in
Honduras
Osvaldo Feinstein
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Abstract
The entanglement of facts and values is shown in the context of an example from
an evaluation of an agricultural project in Honduras. Instead of assuming that the
evaluated project corresponded to what really mattered to the people (that it was
‘relevant’ for them), the evaluation team tried to find out what people valued most
and incorporated this perspective in the assessment of the project. Thus, it became
a value-focused evaluation in which the evaluation team undertook to identify the
local people’s priorities, their key concerns, their values through conversation with
them and the programme staff who were involved in the implementation. These
conversations played a critical role in completing the evaluation.
Keywords
agriculture, development, entanglement, facts, projects, values
Introduction
After a general consideration of the relations between facts and values, the article
provides an evaluation example of the entanglement of facts and values, showing its
implications for evaluation practice and evaluation capacity development. The last
section discusses links with the evaluation literature.
Corresponding author:
Osvaldo Feinstein, Torpedero Tucuman 18 – 8 B, Madrid, 28016, Spain.
Email: ofeinstein@yahoo.com
893081EVJ0010.1177/1035719X19893081Evaluation Journal of AustralasiaFeinstein
research-article2019
Praxis
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