ABSTRACT
People who operate social programs often perceive evaluators as threats to themselves and their programs. The very term evaluation implies a judgmental process, and program people may take evasive actions ranging from a mild effort to put their best foot forward to more drastic attempts at deliberate deception. In an effort to avoid this problem, the evaluators of a national program to improve teaching in sociology made repeated assurances to program participants. The project on teaching undergraduate sociology began in late 1974. It was funded for a three-year period by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). FIPSE required an evaluation component and funds were allocated for that purpose. The project director was determined that a "qualitative" evaluation would be more appropriate and more helpful to the project than the traditional summative evaluation. Goals are rational abstractions in nonrational systems; they are the rational expression of a highly subjective process.
