Values in evaluation and social research

175 Pages·1999·7.316 MB·English

by  Ernest R. House, Kenneth R. Howe

values
evaluation
soAcNDi" al■ .
research

values
evaluation
soAcND"i al■ .
research
Ernest R. House
Kenneth R. Howe
Sage Publications
<§
International Educational and Professional Publisher
Thousand Oaks London New Delhi
Copyright © 1999 by Sage Publications, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
House, Ernest R.
Values in evaluation and social research / by Ernest R. House
and Kenneth R. Howe.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7619-1154-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-7619-1155-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Evaluation research (Social action programs) 2. Social
sciences—Research. I. Howe, Kenneth Ross. II. Title.
H62 .H645 1999
300'.7'2—dc21 99-6434
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
01 02 03 04 05 7 6 5 4 3 2
Acquiring Editor: C. Deborah Laughton
Editorial Assistant: Eileen Carr
Production Editor: Denise Santoyo
Editorial Assistant: Patricia Zeman
Designer/Typesetter: Lynn Miyata
Cover Designer: Kathy White
For Geogdia,
Is that all there is?
cma
In loving memory of jeam

CONTENTS
Preface IX
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Problem of Values xiii
The Argument of This Book XV
Critiques of Other Views xvii
The Deliberative Democratic View xix
Part I. Value Claims
1. Facts and Values 3
The Fact-Value Continuum 5
Values as Emergent 9
Values and Democratic Deliberation 11
2. Evaluative Reasoning 15
Evaluation Audiences and Stakeholders 19
Points of View 21
An Example 24
Deliberation in Context 27
Part II. Critiques of Other Vi■:.' :,■
111
3. The Received View 33
The Radical Undecidability Thesis 36
The Emotive Conception of Democracy 47
4. The Radical Constructivist View 55
Radical Constructivism Characterized 57
Facts, Values, and Epistemology 61
The Practice of Evaluation 69
5. The Postmodernist View 73
Facts, Values, and Epistemology 75
The Practice of Evaluation 77
A Critique of Postmodernism 82
Part III. Deliberative Democratic Evaluation
6. The Deliberative Democratic View 91
Deliberative Democratic Evaluation 97
Locating Deliberative Democracy Within Political Theory 106
7. Good Practice 111
Critical Questions 113
Other Examples 115
A Hypothetical Example 124
Conclusion: The Role of Evaluation in Society 131
Deliberative Democracy 131
Characteristics of Evaluation 134
Characteristics of Evaluators 135
References 139
Author Index 145
Subject Index 147
About the Authors 151
PREFACE
ur aspiration in this book is to reconcile evaluation theory
with general currents in contemporary philosophy. Al-
though evaluators regularly borrow ideas from philoso-
phers, many important insights of the past 20 years of philosophy
remain untapped. Hence, we, an evaluator and a philosopher, have
taken on this joint task. The task is not simply one of converting
concepts from one field to the other. The discourse styles of the two
fields differ significantly, and even though we have tried to smooth
out these differences, the reader may experience occasional jolts as
we switch from one discourse to the other. Philosophical discourse
tends to be denser, tougher, and, yes, more irritating than that in
evaluation. This is Socrates7 legacy. We apologize in advance to those
who may take offense at this more aggressive style of analysis. Those
who read philosophy will be used to it.
To accomplish this task, we focus on the infamous fact-value
dichotomy, an unresolved issue central to evaluation. We see how this
issue is addressed in philosophy currently and apply these insights to
evaluation theory, as well as add our own original analysis to the
IX