The Context of Evaluation: Balancing Rigor and Relevance

Abstract

Background: The context in which an evaluation is undertaken impacts not only the core evaluation activities but also the ethical standards that guide our work. Theoretical constructs and ethical decision-making frameworks often may not support us in ethical dilemmas given certain evaluation settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present an example of how a well-intentioned, responsive yet rigorous evaluation provided opportunities to expand our experiences. We conclude this paper with a set of recommendations for organizations/institutions, evaluators, project developers/ implementers, and grantors

Setting: Not applicable

Intervention: Not applicable.

Research Design: Not applicable.

Data Collection and Analysis: Desk review.

Findings: The complexities of conducting an external evaluation of a study that relied on a public-private partnership coupled with a complex intervention that was not fully developed resulted in unintended study limitations and necessitated adapting evaluation strategies and making ad hoc adjustments midstream. Through our recommendations we share our lessons learned and how challenges can be creatively and ethically addressed at the onset of an evaluation.

Keywords: multi-tiered evaluation; evaluation context, ethical standards, evaluator role