Attitudes toward evaluation: An exploratory study of students’ and stakeholders’ social representations
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Author (Corporation)
Publication date
10.2018
Type of student thesis
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Type
01A - Journal article
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Parent work
Evaluation and Program Planning
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DOI of the original publication
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Series
Series number
Volume
70
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
44-50
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Elsevier
Place of publication / Event location
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Abstract
Positive attitudes toward evaluation among stakeholders are an important precondition for successful evaluation processes. However, empirical studies focusing on stakeholders’ attitudes toward evaluation are scarce. The present paper explores the approach of assessing social representations as indicators of people’s attitudes toward evaluation. In an exploratory study, two groups were surveyed: University students (n = 60) with rather theoretical knowledge of evaluation and stakeholders (n = 61) who had shortly before taken part in participatory evaluation studies. Both groups were asked to name their free associations with the term “evaluation”, which were subsequently analyzed lexicographically. The results indicate different social representations of evaluation in the two groups. The student group primarily saw evaluation as an “appraisal”, whereas the stakeholders emphasized the “improvement” resulting from evaluation. Implications for further evaluation research and practice are discussed.
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ISBN
ISSN
0149-7189
1873-7870
1873-7870
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
No
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Closed
License
Citation
Schultes, M.-T., Kollmayer, M., Mejeh, M., & Spiel, C. (2018). Attitudes toward evaluation: An exploratory study of students’ and stakeholders’ social representations. Evaluation and Program Planning, 70, 44–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2018.06.002