Perceptions of evaluator professional autonomy in North American evaluation practice

Abstract

Scholarship from the sociology of professions has illustrated the important role that autonomy must play in professional relationships, especially in technically-specific and relationally-strong fields of practice like program evaluation. Theoretically, autonomy is important because the evaluation professional ought to be free to make recommendations in several key areas: framing the evaluation questions, including questions of unintended consequences; developing evaluation plans; choosing methods; analyzing data; making conclusions, including negative findings in reports; and, increasingly, ensuring that historically underrepresented stakeholders without voice are represented and involved in the evaluation process. This study found that evaluators in Canada and the USA reportedly did not perceive autonomy as related to the larger role of the field of evaluation, but rather as a contextual personal concern, that is, related to matters of personal circumstance, such as their workplace, years of experience, financial security, and the backing or lack thereof from professional associations. The article concludes with implications for practice and future research.