Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation (JMDE)
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Reply to Hellmut Eggers’ Comments on “An Association to Improve Evaluation of Development Aid”
Get PDFI would like to thank Hellmut Eggers for his thoughtful comments on my paper. I hope we can collaborate on the project we both hold dear, improving evaluation of development aid! I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to reply to his comments
Systems Concepts in Evaluation
Get PDFThis anthology provided not only an eye opener, but also an excellent initiation to the variety of concepts inherent in systems
Understanding Opportunity Costs and the Economist’s View: A Response to Scriven's "The Economist's Fallacy"
No full textOf course, the concept of opportunity costs has generally remained in the domain of economists and its understanding and acceptance are not universal in other fields, including evaluation. Indeed, in the last issue of the Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation (JMDE), Michael Scriven spoke out against the use of opportunity costs in evaluation. Unfortunately, what may appear to Scriven to be flaws of logic and utility in the economists’ concept of cost are the result of some common misunderstandings about what a “cost” is—at least in terms of how economists use the term. However, I believe that the points raised by Scriven can be either corrected or clarified in a way that will illustrate why opportunity costs are a useful and important concept for evaluators
A Summative Evaluation of RCT Methodology: & An Alternative Approach to Causal Research
Get PDFThis review focuses on what might be called a reconsideration of the working credentials of the RCT design, and includes some radical new perspectives on these, with relatively brief coverage of the usual suspects
Responsibility of Educational Institutions for Strategic Change
Get PDFThe Spanish university is well into its nth reform process, this time for the purpose of improving its legibility for members of the European Union under the extended Bologna Process. The reform involves a structural change in plans of study, as well as a cultural change to the Europeanist discourse, which mixes mercantilist values and defence of a fuzzy social orientation as public service in a difficult balance. Goals such as professionalization of degrees, meeting social demands and requirements, and widening the student base to include professionals who wish to continue their education are being pursued in different ways and with different intensities by national systems and centres of higher education. Evaluation, as a decision-making instrument, plays a key role in innovation and improvement and determining the direction of the changes (the goals) and the rhythm of change (process control). Evaluation is inserted in a model of strategic thought or of directed strategic change, which requires discussion by system stakeholders to define the future of higher education institutions. Some results of a recent metaevaluation of the institutional evaluation system employed in Spanish Andalusian universities show the difficulties in strategic change, assuming instead a legitimist model, in which our approximation to the models of other European university systems is pursued with a pronounced isomorphic character
Evaluation Lessons from a Theatre Company
Get PDFCharter Theatre is a small professional theatre in Washington, DC. Its mission is to develop and produce new plays. This includes seeking out new plays, working with the playwrights to clarify their aesthetic intentions, developing a strong script, and then producing those plays. Like other organizations, Charter Theatre wants to be accountable. Its members believe they are responsible to the audience to do the best work they can do. They saw the need for evaluation early on—a repeatable process to assure the quality of their work. However, they didn’t want a factory that would create the same kind of work over and over. In theatre, variety is part of the point. In developing their process, Charter Theatre’s Artistic Director questioned,” How do you evaluate a play without sucking all the life from it?”
An Eastern Paradigm of Evaluation
Get PDFI recently taught a module on the philosophies of evaluation as part of a pilot introductory course of a new diploma programme jointly sponsored by the United Nations (UN) Evaluation Group and the United Nations Staff College (Russon, 2007, November). In the session, I compared and contrasted the “rationalistic” paradigm with the “naturalistic” paradigm on the basis of ontology, epistemology, and methodology
In This Issue
Get PDFThis issue of JMDE begins with associate editor Margaret Richardson’s review of JMDE’s first five years of publication in her paper titled “JMDE—Five Years in Review.” In this paper, Richardson summarizes some of the key themes and content published in JMDE for the past five years and attempts to set the tone for the next five years.
Hope for High Impact Aid: Real Challenges, Real Opportunities, and Real Solutions
Get PDFIn a 2004 interview with the late Everett Rogers, author of the book Diffusion of Innovation, Rogers lamented that in 1963, he and other members of a prominent research group expected to solve the remaining international development problems and end poverty within ten to fifteen years. (Rogers, 2004) Now, forty-five years hence, it is time for a “reality check.” While it is refreshing to be reminded of a time when it was acceptable to have such high hopes, in hindsight, it appears that these early expectations were terribly naïve. Unfortunately, the multinational effort to alleviate poverty over the last half-century has not succeeded (Goodman, 2006). But does this mean we should give up hope
Merit Pay, Scientific Production, and the Comisión Nacional Evaluadora de la Acitividad Investigadora del Profesorado Universitario
No full textSome authors have given the CNEAI (National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity) a notorious role in the promotion of scientific research in Spain when considering the requirements for this institution as one of the essential elements in the increase of the Spanish scientific production in the last few years. We hereby expose that the increase of the scientific production in Spain is not linked either with the evaluation activity of the research fulfilment done by the CNEAI, nor consequently with the merit pay system done specifically in Spain by means of an economic incentive called “sexenios.” On the contrary, we suggest that such increase is related to the growth of both human and material resources devoted to the research activity, a conclusion that may sound obvious at first sight, but it’s necessary to point out for those who (some times in a selfish way) deny it. Moreover, it is shown how the so-called merit pay system presents notorious risks that must be addressed to avoid unwanted effects. All in all, we do consider that a system of economic incentives based on a correct evaluation of the research activity can be effective in improving the quality of scientific production, as well as gradually improve everyone’s way of working