ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the elements or steps that make up a cycle of evaluative research. It discusses the wall chart on the Allen and Unwin website. The primary task is to focus on the ultimate purposes of the evaluation, and to sort out who all the relevant parties to an evaluation will be and how they do relate to these ultimate purposes. The greater the overlap, the better the chances, while the least overlap presents the greatest risk of lack of common ground, hearing clearly the voice of the critical reference group or communicating effectively with the parties. The different possible constellations of these four parties represent varying opportunities for enhancing or limiting the chances of successfully ensuring that the critical reference group perspective drives both the evaluation and consequential valued change. Recommendations for change or improvement can at last be framed effectively—and the current cycle of evaluative research ‘ends’ with their ‘experimental’ enactment.
