Evaluation is defined by its central task of valuing—the process and product of judging the merit, worth, or significance of a policy or program. However, there are no clear-cut ways to consider values and render value judgments in evaluation practice. There remains contention in the evaluation field about whether and how to make value judgments. No approach to valuing eliminates the uncertainty, plurality, and potential for conflict that comes with considering values. This article explores what critical systems heuristics (CSH), an area of applied systems thinking, might contribute to four long-standing issues regarding valuing: envisioning the social value of evaluation, framing the evaluand and evaluation, selecting and justifying criteria, and determining the roles of the evaluator(s) and stakeholders in valuing. CSH contributes concepts and tools that, in theory, support more reflective, responsible valuing although further practical application is needed.
Coral spawning on the oceanic reef systems of north-western Australia was recently discovered during autumn and spring, but the degree to which species and particularly colonies participated in one or both of these spawnings was unknown. At the largest of the oceanic reef systems, the participation by colonies in the two discrete spawning events was investigated over three years in 13 species of Acropora corals (n = 1,855 colonies). Seven species spawned during both seasons; five only in autumn and one only in spring. The majority of tagged colonies (n = 218) spawned once a year in the same season, but five colonies from three species spawned during spring and autumn during a single year. Reproductive seasonality was not influenced by spatial variation in habitat conditions, or by Symbiodinium partners in the biannual spawner Acropora tenuis. Colonies of A. tenuis spawning during different seasons separated into two distinct yet cryptic groups, in a bayesian clustering analysis based on multiple microsatellite markers. These groups were associated with a major genetic divergence (G”ST = 0.469), despite evidence of mixed ancestry in a small proportion of individuals. Our results confirm that temporal reproductive isolation is a common feature of Acropora populations at Scott Reef and indicate that spawning season is a genetically determined trait in at least A. tenuis. This reproductive isolation may be punctuated occasionally by interbreeding between genetic groups following favourable environmental conditions, when autumn spawners undergo a second annual gametogenic cycle and spawn during spring.
Making causal claims is central to evaluation practice because we want to know the effects of a program, project, or policy. In the past decade, the conversation about establishing causal claims has become prominent (and problematic). In response to this changing conversation about causality, we argue that evaluators need to take up some new ways of thinking about and examining causal claims in their practices, including (1) being responsive to the situation and intervention, (2) building relevant and defensible causal arguments, (3) being literate in multiple ways of thinking about causality, (4) being familiar with a range of causal designs and methods, (5) layering theories to explain causality at multiple levels; and (6) justifying the causal approach taken to multiple audiences. Drawing on recent literature, we discuss why and how evaluators can take up each of these ideas in practice. We conclude with considerations for evaluator training and future research.
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