Evaluators are challenged to understand human behavior in all of its natural complexity and individuality. Our work is conducted in natural settings, where history and context matter, where human behavior traces complex patterns of influence and relationship, where what is meaningful to those in the setting is both phenomenological and structural, arising from both lived experiences and the societal institutions that frame and shape those experiences. Engaging this complexity requires not a privileging of just one way of knowing and valuing, but rather a marshalling of all of our ways of understanding in a framework that honors diversity and respects difference. This framework is advanced in this article as a mixed-method way of thinking. A presentation of key concepts in the framework is followed by case examples from the US.
This contribution to the Ethics section is intended to foster discussion about the relationship between multicultural competence and ethics; a timely discussion especially in view of the release in 2011 of the American Evaluation Association's Public Statement on Cultural Competence (http:// www.eval.org/ccstatement.asp). Over the course of 2011, Leslie Goodyear, Ethics Section editor, conducted interviews with three experts on research with multicultural communities. Represented here, these discussions among Joseph Trimble, Ed Trickett and Celia Fisher covered important topics such as the meaning of multiculturalism, the ethical imperative of multicultural competence, and essential practices for competence in conducting research and evaluation in multicultural communities.
In taking the reins of the Ethical Challenges section, I am keenly aware of the high standards set for this section by the previous editors, Leslie Cooksy and Michael Morris. Although the format for the section will be different, I hope that the issues addressed here will continue to contribute to learning, discussion, and debate in the evaluation community. As Thomas Schwandt mentioned in his introductory editorial, the format of this section is now open and we invite manuscripts that address a range of ethical issues in professional evaluation practice. I welcome your input and your submissions. Leslie Goodyear, lgoodyear@edc.org.In this issue, evaluators who conduct their work in the international development arena put forward multiple perspectives on the ethical implications of evaluations that are underfunded. First, Patrick Grasso of the World Bank sets the stage with an overview of development evaluation and, in broad strokes, some possible ethical concerns. Next, Vinod Thomas, also of the World Bank, addresses ethical issues in development evaluation from the ''macro'' point of view, specifically discussing evaluation quality and use. And finally, Michael Hendricks and Michael Bamberger, both independent evaluators, take what they call the ''micro'' view-that of the evaluator on the ground-and put forward a framework for thinking about the resulting programmatic ethical implications of underfunded evaluations. Although these authors focus on international development evaluation, the ethical issues they surface translate to other types of programs as well.
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