ABSTRACT

Good evaluation requires good research practice. In this chapter, we argue that any canons of quality that apply to scientific investigation also apply to evaluative investigation. Similarly, threats to reliability and validity in pure research also affect evaluation research. Moreover, though evaluation and research traditionally are viewed as differing somewhat with regard to the role of stakeholders and participants in formulating research questions, we hold that any research project has stakeholders and participants with vested and privileged interests in research results and how they are used. Participants in research increasingly are true participants, working with researchers to reformulate and modify salient questions and data sources, and validate the findings and interpretations of investigations (Schensul & LeCompte, 1999). Since the boundaries between evaluation and research are significantly blurred, we often do not distinguish between processes engaged in during “research” and those involving “evaluation.”