The role of the evaluator in remote contexts

Abstract:

What constitutes research? What is evaluation? While there are distinctions between the two terms, both appear to be distinct disciplines in the literature. However, both may involve similar methods of inquiry. There may be subtle differences in the purposes of evaluation and research but perhaps the differences are more related to the perceptions than the methods or the purposes. Evaluation is often seen as a process of ‘assessment’—what works and why—while research is perhaps seen more as a process of ‘discovery’. Some may suggest that the task of research is to be able to ‘generalise’ while the task of evaluation is to ‘particularise’. Others may argue that evaluation begins with practice while research begins with theory. There is a sense in which these are ‘chicken and egg’ type arguments because indeed in each case the two notions may go hand in hand. Even within the discipline there are arguments about whether evaluation should be seen as based on constructivist or positivist paradigms (e.g. van der Knaap 2004) in much the same way that qualitative and quantitative—and mixed methods—researchers argue about the respective merits of their own methods (e.g. Burrell and Morgan 1979; Johnson et al. 2007; Morgan 2007). Based on the foregoing, for most intents and purposes in this presentation I would argue that the term ‘researcher’ and ‘evaluator’ can be used interchangeably. Therefore we may be able to set aside what may be seen to be a semantic distinction and consider more fully the implications of their role—in this case within the context of diverse locations and situations within the Northern Territory. In this presentation I refer to myself as an evaluator because I have been contracted to ‘evaluate’. However, much of my work involves. In this presentation I want to share some of my learnings—in particular, those things that I see as pitfalls—potential snags—that may or may not be avoided in practice. These learnings come from working as part of a team, and I acknowledge them for their contribution to these learnings. In doing so I will give an overview of the kind of evaluations we have been involved with. I will also outline some distinctions in the field of evaluation research, which I believe are worth noting.