Evaluation and the Question of Change

Abstract

The article describes the position of the Peace Corps' Division of Evaluation in relation to the other two Divisions which make up the reflective arm of the Peace Corps—Research and Planning. It follows the growth of the evaluative function in the Peace Corps from its unstructured beginning through its first crisis (surviving pressures to limit its function to that normally performed by an inspector gen eral), through a period in which evaluation's emphasis shifted from examining the effort the Peace Corps was making overseas to examining the results of that effort. Changes brought about by evaluation in the five years of the Peace Corps' history are described. The function of staff evaluators and consultants from outside the agency is discussed, as is the nature of a present-day evaluation report and the methods used to prepare it. Current problems of evaluation are outlined, as well as its limits in directing and documenting change in the Peace Corps. The social sciences are seen as pivotal in creating an integration of research, planning, and evaluation with the strong impera tives to act in development problems.