Evaluators’ Reflections on the Ethical Implications of Their Early Experiences

Abstract

What kinds of ethical dilemmas do people who are new to the profession of evaluation face? Are they different from the challenges faced by more experienced evaluators? What strategies do they use to resolve them? These questions were the starting point for the essays included in this issue of the Ethical Challenges section. The essays were written by people who responded to information sent to them by faculty who were in turn responding to the following request from the section editor: ‘‘As part of the American Journal of Evaluation’s continued effort to help young professionals publish, I am putting together an Ethical Challenges section that will feature challenges faced by new evaluators. I am writing to ask for your help in soliciting essays from advanced graduate students or recent graduates about ethical challenges that they have faced. Ideally, the author will describe a specific dilemma (using the American Evaluation Association’s [AEA] Guiding Principles as a reference point) and then discuss how his or her newness in the profession affected its evolution and/or resolution.’’ Of the essays received in response to this request, three were selected.