In-house research: A consideration of roles and advantages

Using hybrid models to support the development of organizational evaluation capacity: A case narrative

“…She states that choices made by organizations in terms of the nature of evaluations conducted by internal and external evaluators may be tied more to potential utilization than to a lack of internal capacity to conduct summative evaluations. Several papers included a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of internal evaluation (Love, 1991;Lyon, 1989;Mathison, 1991a;Morrell, 2000); however, few methods were suggested to compensate for the perceived weaknesses of the internal evaluation model. These papers did not provide a comprehensive description of the advantages and disadvantages of external evaluation.…”

“…Beyond these practical advantages, the knowledge of cultural and political factors influencing the organization appears to be a significant advantage for internal evaluators, enabling them to situate each program within the organization's complex environment, and sensitizing them to the multiple perspectives existing within the organization (Conley-Tyler, 2005;Lyon, 1989). The contextual and organizational knowledge held by evaluators as well as their relationships with other organizational members also protects them from being co-opted or otherwise influenced out of ignorance (Lyon, 1989).…”

“…The contextual and organizational knowledge held by evaluators as well as their relationships with other organizational members also protects them from being co-opted or otherwise influenced out of ignorance (Lyon, 1989).…”

“…The credibility of internal evaluators can be perceived from two opposing points of view: first, their long-standing presence in the organization enables them to build their credibility over time through their work (Lyon, 1989;Torres, 1991). Second, and 2 See for example Bourgeois (2008).…”

“…In addition to this, internal evaluators are often asked to change evaluation plans by senior managers dealing with changing organizational conditions: ''Unlike an external evaluation which is based on a negotiated contract, internal evaluators, even when an evaluation plan is negotiated, must be prepared to change that plan'' (Mathison, 1991a, p. 174). Although the ability to quickly change established evaluation plans to suit organizational needs is a definite advantage of internal evaluation, such modifications are resource-intensive and can sometimes negatively affect the credibility of evaluation studies and therefore hinder their use (Lyon, 1989).…”