Why Aren’t Evaluations Working and What to Do About It

A Framework for Negotiating Meaningful Evaluation in Nonprofits

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12471304
AutoresKellie Liket (Erasmus University Rotterdam, autor correspondente), Kellie C Liket (Erasmus Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands), Marta Rey-Garcia (Universidade da Coruña), Marta Rey‐garcía (0000-0002-9453-8551, Universidade da Coruña), Karen Maas (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Karen E H Maas (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Ano2014
Volume35
Fascículo2
Páginas171-188
Data de publicação2014-03-18
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Evaluation (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1098-2140 • E-ISSN: 1557-0878
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1098214013517736
OpenAlexW2107614605
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas32
Referências citadas50

Nonprofit organizations are under great pressure to use evaluations to show that their programs “work” and that they are “effective.” However, empirical evidence indicates that nonprofits struggle to perform useful evaluations, especially when conducted under accountability pressures. An increasing body of evidence highlights the crucial role of a participatory negotiation process between nonprofits and stakeholders on the purpose and design of evaluations in achieving evaluation utility. However, conceptual confusion about the evaluation objectives, unclear evaluation purposes, a lack of appropriate evaluation questions, and normative ideas about superior evaluation designs and methods, complicate the process. In response, we provide practical conceptualizations of the central objectives of evaluations and propose a framework that can guide negotiation processes. It presents the relationships between the evaluation purpose, evaluation question, and the different levels of effects that should be measured. The selection of the evaluation method is contingent on the choices made within this framework

Accountability · Business · Conceptual framework · Confusion · Economics · Evaluation methods · Knowledge management · Management science · Negotiation · Normative · Participatory evaluation · Political science · Process (computing · Process management · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research