Abstract
Evaluating a pioneering dispute resolution program that blended a child protection safety framework with a legal alternative dispute resolution (ADR) model called for an innovative approach. The evaluation method chosen involved blending an Appreciative Inquiry, which focused on the cultural change aspect of the program, with traditional evaluation research methods that enabled assessment of system effectiveness. This mixed approach, called a Constructive Inquiry, enabled the stakeholder partners to achieve the best of many worlds. The Constructive Inquiry provided the partners with an appreciative assessment of their pioneering collaborations, an objective measurement of the effectiveness of their program, and a clearer understanding of the experiences and practice of their professional participants. In addition, this approach provided everyone involved with a richer and deeper understanding of the experience of cultural change and the future pathways that they all needed to tread to consolidate that change. In the future, Constructive Inquiry might offer a useful model for the evaluation of projects with similar parameters.
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