Perceptions of evaluator professional autonomy in North American evaluation practice.

Scholarship from the sociology of professions has illustrated the important role that autonomy must play in professional relationships, especially in technically-specific and relationally-strong fields of practice like program evaluation. Theoretically, autonomy is important because the evaluation professional ought to be free to make recommendations in several key areas: framing the evaluation questions, including questions of unintended consequences; developing evaluation plans; choosing methods; analyzing data; making conclusions, including negative findings in reports; and, increasingly, ensuring that historically underrepresented stakeholders without voice are represented and involved in the evaluation process. This study found that evaluators in Canada and the USA reportedly did not perceive autonomy as related to the larger role of the field of evaluation, but rather as a contextual personal concern, that is, related to matters of personal circumstance, such as their workplace, years of experience, financial security, and the backing or lack thereof from professional associations. The article concludes with implications for practice and future research.

What do we know about evaluator education? A review of peer-reviewed publications (1978-2018).

This article reviews peer-reviewed writings on evaluator education from 1978 to 2018. Despite the topic's presumed importance, scholars to date have not extensively addressed it in peer-reviewed publications. The article first describes the methods used to select articles and the conceptual framework for their analysis. It then presents the content of 64 articles selected for review, divided into two major categories: research studies, and reflective case narratives. We further divide research studies into program directories and empirical studies; the case narratives provide information on programs, curriculum, and instruction and minimally on students/faculty. The article concludes with thoughts on next steps for research on evaluator education.