Asymmetric relations among stakeholders create challenges in participatory evaluation processes. Power and conflict may hinder equal and genuine communication about the value of the practices evaluated. Guidelines to deal with these sociopolitical challenges are scarce and usually focus on the need for evaluators to remain distant or to handle resistance. In this article we discuss the use of a specific interpretation of responsive evaluation as an approach to foster dialogues among stakeholders in politically laden contexts. We aim to illustrate how asymmetric relations can be dealt with constructively, focusing on inclusion of marginalized groups, mutual learning and good dialogue. Two reflective case narratives are presented of responsive evaluation projects in settings with marginalized groups (client councils in elderly care and psychiatric clients with severe drug abuse). We reflect on the role of the evaluator in these contexts and discuss the justification for the active engagement of evaluators to enhance practice improvements.
Abma, T.A. ( 1997) ‘Voices from the Margins: Political and Ethical Dilemmas in Evaluation’. Canadian Review of Social Policy/Revue Canadienne de Politique Sociale39: 41-53.
2.
Abma, T.A. ( 2000) ‘Stakeholder Conflict: A Case Study’ , Evaluation and Program Planning23(2): 199-210.
3.
Abma, T.A. ( 2001) ‘Reflexive Dialogues: A Story about the Development of Injury Prevention in Two Performing-Arts Schools’, Evaluation7(2): 238-52.
4.
Abma, T.A. ( 2003) ‘Learning by Telling: Storytelling Workshops as an Organizational Learning Intervention’, Management Learning34(2): 221-40.
5.
Abma, T.A. ( 2005) ‘Responsive Evaluation: Its Meaning and Special Contribution to Health Promotion’, Evaluation and Program Planning28(3): 279-89.
6.
Abma, T.A. ( 2006) ‘The Practice and Politics of Responsive Evaluation’ , American Journal of Evaluation27(1): 31-43.
7.
Abma, T.A. and T.A. Schwandt ( 2005) ‘The Practice and Politics of Sponsored Evaluations’ , in B. Somekh and C. Lewis (eds) Research Methods in the Social Sciences, pp. 105-12. London: SAGE.
8.
Abma, T.A. and R.E. Stake ( 2001) ‘Stake’s Responsive Evaluation: Core Ideas and Devolution’, in J. Greene and T. A. Abma (eds) Responsive Evaluation: New Directions for Evaluation92: 7-23.
9.
Abma, T.A. and G.A.M. Widdershoven ( 2005) ‘Sharing Stories: Narrative and Dialogue in Responsive Nursing Evaluation’, Evaluation and the Health Professions28(1): 90-109.
10.
Abma, T.A. and. G.A.M. Widdershoven ( 2006) Responsieve Methodologie: Interactief Onderzoek in de Praktijk (Responsive Methodology: Interactive Research in Practice) . The Hague: LEMMA.
11.
Abma, T.A. and G.A.M. Widdershoven ( 2008) ‘Evaluation and/as Social Relation’ , Evaluation14(2): 209-25.
12.
Abma, T.A., J.C. Greene, O. Karlsson, K. Ryan, T.A. Schwandt and G.A.M. Widdershoven ( 2001) ‘Dialogue on Dialogue’, Evaluation7(2): 164-80.
13.
Abma, T.A., C.J. Nierse and G.A.M. Widdershoven (2009 ) ‘Clients as Partners in Responsive Research: Methodological Notions for Collaborations in Mixed Research Teams’, Qualitative Health Research19(3): 401-15.
14.
Cousins, J.B. ( 2005) ‘Will the Real Empowerment Evaluation Please Stand up?’, in D. M. Fetterman and A. Wandersman (eds) Empowerment Evaluation Principles in Practice, pp. 183-208. New York: Guilford.
15.
Cousins, J.B. and E. Whitmore ( 1998) ‘Framing Participatory Evaluation’ , New Directions for Evaluation80: 5-23.
16.
Fetterman, D. M., S. Kaftarian and A. Wandersman, eds ( 1996) Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-Assessment and Accountability. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
17.
Greene, J.C. ( 1997) ‘Evaluation as Advocacy’, American Journal of Evaluation18(1): 25-35.
18.
Greene, J.C. ( 2001a) ‘Dialogue in Evaluation: A Relational Perspective’ , Evaluation7(2): 181-7.
19.
Greene, J.C. ( 2001b) ‘Evaluation Extrapolations’, American Journal of Evaluation22(3): 397-402.
20.
Greene, J.C. ( 2002) ‘Evaluation as Education’, paper presented at EES conference, Seville .
21.
Greene, J.C. ( 2006) ‘Evaluation, Democracy, and Social Change’ , in I. F. Shaw, J. C. Greene and M. M. Mark (eds) Handbook of Evaluation: Policies, Programs and Practices, pp. 118-40. London: SAGE.
22.
Greene, J. C. and T. A. Abma, eds (2001) Responsive Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
23.
Guba, E.G. and Y. Lincoln ( 1989) Fourth Generation Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
24.
Karlsson, O. ( 2001) ‘Critical Dialogue: Its Value and Meaning’ , Evaluation7(2): 211-27.
25.
King, J.A. ( 2007) ‘Making Sense of Participatory Evaluation: Framing Participatory Evaluation’, New Directions for Evaluation114: 83-6.
26.
King, J.A., L. Stevahn, G. Ghere and J. Minnema ( 2001) ‘Toward a Taxonomy of Essential Evaluator Competencies’ , American Journal of Evaluation22(2): 229-47.
27.
Koch, T. ( 1994) ‘Beyond Measurement: Fourth Generation Evaluation in Nursing’, Journal of Advanced Nursing20(6): 1148-55.
28.
Koch, T. ( 2000) ‘"Having a Say": Negotiation in Fourth Generation Evaluation’, Journal of Advanced Nursing31(1): 117-25.
29.
Lincoln, Y. and E.G. Guba ( 1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. New York : SAGE.
30.
McDonald, D. ( 2008) ‘Revisiting a Theory of Negotiation: The Utility of Markiewicz (2005) Proposed Six Principles’, Evaluation and Program Planning31(3): 259-65.
31.
Mertens, D.M., J. Farley, A.M. Madison and P. Singleton ( 1994) ‘Diverse Voices in Evaluation Practice: Feminists, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities’, American Journal of Evaluation15(2): 123-9.
32.
Mertens, D.M. ( 2009) Transformative Research and Evaluation. New York and London: Guilford.
33.
Niessen, T.J.H., T.A. Abma, G.A.M. Widdershoven and C. P. M. Van der Vleuten ( 2009) ‘Learning-in-(Inter)Action: A Dialogical Turn to Evaluation and Learning’, in K. Ryan and J. B. Cousins (eds) The SAGE International Handbook of Educational Evaluation, pp. 377-95. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Schwandt, T.A. ( 1997) ‘Whose Interests are Being Served? Program Evaluation as a Conceptual Practice of Power’, in L. Mabry (ed.) Advances in Program Evaluation: Evaluation and the Post-Modern Dilemma, pp. 45-58. Greenwich, CT : JAI Press.
Schwandt, T.A. ( 2002) ‘Traversing the Terrain of Role, Identity and Self’ , in K. E. Ryan and T. A. Schwandt (eds) Exploring Evaluator Role and Identity, pp. 193-207. Greenwich, CT: IAP Press.
38.
Schwandt, T.A. ( 2008) ‘Educating for Intelligent Belief in Evaluation’ , American Journal of Evaluation29(2): 139-50.
39.
Stake, R.E. ( 1975) ‘To Evaluate an Arts Program’, in R. E. Stake (ed.) Evaluating the Arts in Education: A Responsive Approach, pp. 13-31. Colombus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.
40.
Stake, R.E. ( 1980) ‘Program Evaluation, Particularly Responsive Evaluation’ , in W. B. Dockrell and D. Hamilton (eds) Rethinking Educational Research , pp. 72-87. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Stevahn, L., J.A. King, G. Ghere and J. Minnema ( 2005) ‘Establishing Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators’, American Journal of Evaluation26(1): 43-59.
43.
Stevahn, L. and J.A. King ( 2005) ‘Managing Conflict Constructively in Program Evaluation’ , Evaluation11(4): 415-27.
44.
VanderPlaat, M. ( 1999) ‘Locating the Feminist Scholar: Relational Empowerment and Social Activism’, Qualitative Health Research9(6): 773-85.
45.
Wadsworth, Y. ( 2001) ‘Becoming Responsive: And Some Consequences for Evaluation as Dialogue across Distance’, New Directions for Evaluation92: 45-58.
46.
Widdershoven, G.A.M. ( 2001) ‘Dialogue in Evaluation: A Hermeneutic Perspective’ , Evaluation7(2): 253-63.
47.
Widdershoven, G.A.M. and T.A. Abma ( 2007) ‘Hermeneutic Ethics between Practice and Theory’ , in R. E. Ashcroft, A. Dawson, H. Draper, and J. R. McMillan (eds) Principles of Health Care Ethics, pp. 215-22. Chichester: Wiley.
