Why the Context of Evaluation Matters
“Context: A Framework for its Influence on Evaluation Practice”, eds. Debra J. Rog, Jody L. Fitzpatrick, and Ross F. Conner,
New Directions for Evaluation 135 (2012), ISBN: 978-1-118-46328-4, 120 pp.
Andreea PARAPUF
The journal New Directions for Evaluation dedicated in the Fall 2012 a special issue to the role of context in evaluation, a rather unexplored topic in this field that deserves much more attention. The goal was to challenge the method-focused evaluation models and to demonstrate that context determines to a large extent the quality of evaluation. Most evaluators struggle to see the potential of understanding the context in which a policy is implemented and how this impacts on the evaluation results.