Interactive Evaluation

 Ronald Havelock (1971) developed a set of
innovation and change model
 Problem Solving Model
 It describes an organizational setting
 Have the ability and inclination to deal with the
problem.

 Participants play a major part in setting goals and
in organizational and program delivery, and
evaluation efforts are influenced strongly by those
who are close to action.
 The problem solving perspective is more on
developing a culture of learning within
organizations (Schei, 1985).

 This led to an interest in integrating evaluation into
the day to day processes of organizations that
adopt a commitment to systematic examination of
what they do and how they might become more
effective and efficient (Rowe & jacobs, 1996)

Interactive Evaluation is concerned with:
 The provision of systematic evaluation findings
through which local providers can make decisions
about the future direction of their program.
 Assistance in planning and carrying out self-
evaluations

 Focusing on the evaluation on program change and
improvement in most cases on a continuous basis
 A perspective that evaluation can be at end in
itself, as a means of empowering providers and
participants.

 Interactive evaluation has a strong formative
purpose.
 Basic features of the interactive form:
 A. Orientation
- improvement of program
B. Typical issues
- What is this program trying to achieve?

- How is this service going?
- Is the delivery working?
- Is delivery consistent with the program
plan?
- How could delivery be changed to make
it more effective?
- How could this organization be changed
to make it more effective?

C. State of program
- subject to continuous review and
improvement.
D. Major Focus
- major focus is on delivery but findings could
influence changes in program plan and thus affect
outcomes.

E. Timing
- program delivery
F. Key Approaches
- Responsive
- Action Research
- Quality Review
- Developmental
- Empowerment

G. Assembly of evidence
- observation and interview
- data collection is systematic
- conclusion

Key Approaches
 Responsive Evaluation
- Robert Stake (1980). An evaluation is responsive
if:
- it orients more directly to program activities
than to program intents;
- it responds to audience requirements for
information;

- the different value perspectives of the people at
hand are referred to in reporting the success and
failure of the program.
Stake approach in responsive evaluation it leads to
enlightenment of stakeholders from which they can
make decisions about program change.

 Action Research
- As defined by Orton (1992) a collaborative
research, centered in social practice, which follows
a particular process, espouses the values of
independence equality and cooperation and is
intended to be a learning experience, to produce a
change for the better in the practice and to add to
social theory.

 Wadsworth (1991) views the process as cyclic one
involving the following components:
 Reflection on current action
 Design
 Fieldwork
 Analysis and conclusions
 Planning

 Kemmis (1985) describe action research as
follows:
 Develop a plan of action to improve what is
already happening.
 Act to implement the plan.
 Observe the effects of action in the context of
which it occurs.

 Reflect on these effects as a basis for further
planning, subsequent action, through a succession
on cycles.
 Action research emphasizes the prospective.
 In the context of organizational improvement, the
current situation with a view to analyzing data on
how this situation can be improved.

 Quality Review
 Major proponents:
 An organizational system provides guidelines for
self-evaluation and improvement;
 Effective agency-level development is enhanced
by the implementation of these system-level
guidelines to support local problem-solving;

 All agencies are expected to undertake such
processes within a given time span.
 This implies the need to develop a culture of
evaluation whereby evaluation becomes a way of
thinking which parameters every kind and level of
daily action.

 Developmental evaluation
 This involves evaluation processes including
asking evaluation questions and applying
evaluation logic, to support
program, project, product and/or organizational
development.

 According to Patton (1996) the primary function
with the team is to elucidate team discussions with
evaluative questions, data and logic, and to
facilitate data based decision making in the
developmental process.

 Empowerment Evaluation
 Designed to create a folk culture of evaluation.
 It is a mechanism used to create and drive a
learning organization,
 It is not mutually exclusive to more traditional
impact evaluation undertaken by external
evaluators.

 Can be fostered by experienced evaluators through
the following;
- training others to acquire evaluation skills
- acting as facilitators to help others conduct
evaluation
- undertaking illuminative evaluations in
conjunction with practitioners
- acting as advocates for disadvantaged groups