ABSTRACT
Visions. Contributors to this book, and to the conference on which it is based, were asked to offer a vision for evaluation for the 21st century or to respond to the visions of others. Of course, the word “vision” has come to have several meanings. A “vision” can refer to a thoughtful depiction of desired future states. Presumably contributors attempted to offer a vision in this sense. But the term “vision” can also refer to something akin to a nightmare or an hallucination. “Vision” can alternatively refer to the perceptual capacities that we have to see the things that are right in front of us. The different meanings of vision in a sense guide this chapter. The evaluators who shared their visions are too thoughtful to offer anything that should be portrayed as a nightmare or hallucination; nevertheless, reading across the different visions there are some nightmarish possibilities. And several of the visions that were offered may well be heavily influenced by what the visionaries see right in front of them, in their own areas of practice, without adequate attention to the possibilities and promises of other approaches. Metaphorically speaking, then, I will try to sort out the thoughtful portrayals of a desired future from the more nightmarish possibilities and from the possible cases of tunnel vision. In trying to sort out the different qualities of vision, I will also make suggestions toward a comprehensive view of the theory and practice of evaluation. Of course, my view is undoubtedly influenced by my own perceptual system, and others may well see things differently than I. Such is the nature of vision!
