Social Sciences: Evaluation Research - Theories and Methods

This course gives the student hands on practice in how to develop an evaluation and how and why it is important to ground evaluation on a logical foundation. It gives an overview of different available evaluation strategies and related scientific methodological approaches within the broad field of evaluation research.

The course will discuss:

๏  what differentiates evaluation research from other types of social scientific research?

๏  what are the requirements for a scientifically based evaluation?

๏  what are the relation between evaluation results/evaluators and the political and social context where they will be used?

๏  which are the key questions in evaluation research and how do they relate to the fields where the evaluations are applied and utilized?

Major emphasis is placed on the development of an evaluation plan and in understanding how different theoretical approaches and methodological strategies may influence the final evaluation results. As part of the development of an evaluation plan the student will train to build relevant evaluation questions, consider if and when a qualitative, quantitative or combination of approaches is more appropriate and create realistic research schedules to produce evaluation results that can be timely produced.