ABSTRACT
Ethical challenges are common in the field of program evaluation due in part to the applied and sensitive nature of the work, as well as differences in the interests and political stances of program stakeholders. In addition, the varied sources of guidance for evaluators do not suggest a single “correct” response to a given ethical dilemma. Indeed, evaluators encounter competing ethical frameworks—including teleological and deontological theories, universalist and relativist perspectives, and descriptive and prescriptive approaches to valuing—that offer conflicting guidance for resolving ethical challenges and assessing the merit and worth of programs. While professional codes of conduct provide a useful starting point for ethical practice, such general principles are open to interpretation and frequently conflict within a particular scenario. To help evaluation students and practitioners navigate this complex terrain, this entry first provides a brief overview of competing ethical frameworks applied to program evaluation, explains when and why ethical dilemmas arise in the conduct of evaluation work, and discusses three ethical challenges evaluators commonly face: deciding how to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects, whether to withhold benefits from program participants when conducting a randomized control trial, and how to mitigate and respond to client pressures to misrepresent evaluation findings. These challenges are not exhaustive, but instead serve to outline important considerations for each decision and orient evaluators to the trade-offs inherent to ethical practice. The entry concludes with an overview of resources for evaluators seeking additional guidance.
