Context and Evaluation

I noticed recently in an evaluation the influence that the context can have on the findings. Interviewing and surveying people from different countries, we could see how their responses were influenced by their different frames of reference.

If we are aware of context issues (e.g. the setting for a training seminar, the relationship between the respondents and the commissioning organisation, the political climate, etc.) we can better estimate their impact on the findings. Plus it helps see how we can apply our findings to other contexts.

Most of the recognised standards on evaluation speak of the importance of analyzing the influence of context as a question of ”accuracy”. Consult the Program Evaluation Standards of the Evaluation Center of Western Michigan University if you are interested to learn more about context and accuracy in evaluation.

Glenn