Planning for Evaluation’s Future

Abstract

Undergraduate students are a potential pool of future evaluators, but little is known about their level of interest in pursuing a career in program evaluation (PE). This two-stage study collected survey data on 249 undergraduate students' knowledge, interest, and attitudes toward various descriptions of PE. Qualitative analysis indicated participants had an understanding of PE’s intent. Correlations suggest that knowledge of PE was related with a perceived match with professional interests (r = .41) as well as general attitude toward PE (r = .44), and factorial ANOVA indicates that (a) participants from diverse disciplines (e.g., education, psychology, and business) were equally interested in PE and (b) average participant attitudes were more positive than would be expected by chance. Given this study’s findings regarding students' knowledge, interest, and attitudes about PE, it is proposed that undergraduate students may be a viable source of future program evaluators.

What Is Evaluation?: Perspectives of How Evaluation Differs (or Not) From Research

“…What is evaluation? Perspectives of how evaluation differs (or not) from research Evaluators, emerging and experienced alike, lament how difficult it is to communicate what evaluation is to non-evaluators (LaVelle, 2011;Mason & Hunt, 2018). This difficulty in communicating what evaluation is stems partly from the field of evaluation having identity issues (Castro, Fragapane, & Rinaldi, 2016), leading to difficulty coming to a consensus of the definition of evaluation (Levin-Rozalis, 2003).…”

Just Give Me an Example! Exploring Strategies for Building Public Understanding of Evaluation

“…Those who work in the public sector also rely on funds being allocated to their work-allocations that are, at least in part, shaped by how much their agency values evaluation (Davies et al, 2018;Lahey et al, 2018). Inconsistent, unclear, or nonexistent messaging about evaluation not only undermines the argument that evaluators have something unique and worthwhile to offer (Montrosse-Moorhead et al, 2017), but also influences the field's ability to attract young and emerging evaluators (LaVelle, 2011;Wanzer, 2021). These interwoven dynamics can undermine both the supply of and demand for evaluation.…”

“…To date, there has been little empirical research on how well the general public—in their own words and from their own perspectives—understand what evaluation is and the potential it might offer. Although there have been some empirical research on university students’ (LaVelle, 2011) and stakeholders’ (Schultes et al, 2018) attitudes toward evaluation—along with Wanzer's (2021) empirical research on researchers’ beliefs about evaluation—there is limited research on the general public's understanding of evaluation.…”

Undergraduate certificate in community‐based assessment and evaluation

“…In fact, according to LaVelle and Donaldson (2021), no universities in the United States offer an undergraduate credential specifically in program evaluation. In an exploratory study by LaVelle (2011), however, nearly a quarter of the undergraduates sampled saw an overlap between their career aspirations and what evaluators do, demonstrating that the absence of training programs at the undergraduate level is not the result of lack of interest.…”

“…In this chapter we present a case study of the undergraduate academic certificate program in Community‐Based Assessment and Evaluation (CBAE) offered by St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas (StMU). The goals of CBAE are to establish pathways into graduate‐level evaluation programs and professional careers, meet community‐identified needs for evaluation services (LaVelle, 2011) and help our university carry out its institutional mission through a pedagogy that is power aware, culturally additive, and therefore culturally responsive (Ladson‐Billings, 1995; Valenzuela, 1999).…”