Leviton L
American Journal of Evaluation, 22(1): 1-12, January 2001
In her presidential address to the American Evaluation Association (AEA), Laura C. Leviton addresses the theme of collective capacity in evaluation. She posits that evaluators need better ways to: (1) exert influence in the program and policy world, (2) improve relationships among themselves, and (3) distinguish appropriate situations for independent work from those that require collaboration, by building on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Leviton suggests that evaluators share knowledge and offer support to one another to mitigate external concerns such as negative responses to evaluations, the tendency of clients to blame the messenger and second-guess. Internally, collective capacity growth is impeded by evaluators’ isolation from each other and by their reticence to talk about stressful situations or missed opportunities. Leviton proposes a forum for evaluators to address professional challenges. With regard to individual strengths and weaknesses, she notes two non-technical areas needing attention: people skills (i.e., interpersonal intelligence) and organizational expertise (i.e., competency in organizational dynamics and program delivery systems). Leviton concludes with options to help build evaluation’s collective strength. First, AEA can reduce individual evaluator vulnerability by providing member services such as professional liability insurance and guild protection through an evaluation “Better Business Bureau.” Second, the field can make a collective effort to educate clients about evaluation requirements and uses by sharing the AEA guiding principles with clients, attracting clients to meetings of local affiliates, strengthening evaluator networks and increasing AEA’s visibility in public affairs. Lastly, evaluators can strengthen the professional community by sharing craft knowledge, creating evaluation teams that maximize member strengths and reinforcing the role of local AEA affiliates.
Associated Grant ID: RWJF Staff
Full text of this item is available, but may require a fee or registration.