Based on experiences from two evaluation projects, the two partners in the following dialogue discuss the meaning of ‘resistance’ to evaluation, or more specifically, resistance to evaluation touching upon values that are central in some communities. Step by step, the dialogue identifies a tension between evaluation as a modernist undertaking and the traditional values of these communities. Through the dialogue about this tension, the ‘rough ground’ in evaluation is revealed, then the implications for evaluation practice are discussed.
Bauman, Z. (2002) lesskab [Translated from Z. Bauman, Community. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001]. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels Forlag .
2.
Berger, P. et al. (1974) The Homeless Mind. Harmondsworth: Penguin .
3.
Donaldson, S. I. , L. E. Gooler and M. Scriven (2002) ‘Strategies for Managing Evaluation Anxiety: Toward a Psychology of Program Evaluation’ , American Journal of Evaluation23(3): 261–274 .
4.
Hanssen, J-I. and J.T. Sandvin (2003) ‘Conceptualising rehabilitation in late modern society,’Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research5(1): 24–41 .
5.
Nisbet, R. A. (1966) The Sociological Tradition. London: Heinemann .
6.
Nussbaum, M. (1997) Cultivating Humanity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
7.
Walzer, M. (1997) Interpretation and Social Criticism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
