Empowerment Evaluation Approach Research Articles

The impact of an empowerment evaluation professional development program on physical sciences teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and behavioral intentions to integrate ICT into their science lessons

The purpose of this research study was to investigate and determine the impact of teacher’s attitudes and beliefs on their behavioral intentions to integrate ICT into their science lessons and to establish the impact of a professional development program underpinned by the principles of empowerment evaluation (EE) on their attitudes and beliefs. The participants were selected from five high schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. A validated questionnaire was used to identify teachers’ attitudes and beliefs and to measure the impact of their attitudes and beliefs on their behavioral intentions to integrate ICTs into their science lessons. The findings from this research study indicated that the empowerment evaluation approach positively impacted the teacher’s attitudes and beliefs as well as improved their behavioral intentions to integrate ICT into their science lessons. Furthermore, this study revealed that the more confident and competent a teacher felt to integrate ICT into his/her lessons, the more likely he/she would be to integrate ICT into their lessons. Therefore, teachers’ behavioral intentions are important in predicting whether they will integrate ICT into their lessons.

The Impact of an Empowerment Evaluation Approach on Teachers’ TPACK-P Proficiency Levels

In South Africa, there is a strong recognition of the affordances of information and communications technology (ICT) in science teaching and learning. A key indicator for the effective use of ICT is the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of teachers with TPACK-Practical (TPACK-P) being an important iteration related to teacher enactment of this knowledge. The purpose of this research study was to capture, portray and develop the TPACK-P proficiency levels of five Physical Sciences teachers using an empowerment evaluation (EE) approach. This study adopted a mixed-methods case study design within a pragmatic research paradigm. The existing TPACK-P levels of teachers were established by administering a questionnaire and doing classroom observations of teachers using ICT in their practice. Following a professional development programme informed by principles of EE, the same TPACK-P questionnaire was used to determine if there was a change in the teachers’ TPACK-P proficiency levels. Classroom lesson observations were also conducted at this stage to establish shifts in the competency of teachers when integrating ICT into their teaching. The results of this study showed that the EE approach that guided the professional development of the Physical Sciences teachers was effective in improving their TPACK-P proficiency levels and in empowering them to be more confident and competent when integrating ICT into their teaching. This suggests that the EE approach can be modelled in professional development efforts involving small groups of teachers.

Whither Made in Africa Evaluation: Exploring the future trajectory and implications for evaluation practice

Background: Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) has gained traction in the last decade, mainly through the agenda of decolonising knowledge and promoting Africa’s epistemic identity through promoting African grounded epistemologies, African indigenous knowledge systems and African grounded evaluation methodologies. While emphasis has been given to theorising MAE and possible methodological implications, limited attention has been given to implications of MAE for development evaluation praxis.Objectives: This article aimed to explore the praxis implications of MAE to development evaluation practice.Method: An exploratory research design was adopted, guided by theoretical constructs from critical systems heuristics (CSH). The assessment is guided by existing evaluation frameworks, practice guidelines (including the African Evaluation Guidelines – Standards and Norms, and the African Evaluation Principles) and theoretical and methodological guidelines. Data were collected through secondary reviews, expert and experiential knowledge regarding development evaluation practice.Results: The study findings show that the critical practice components for MAE include appreciating sources of motivation as guiding principles of developing modalities for evaluation practice; understanding and integrating sources of power and politics of value judgements in development evaluation practice; developing sources of knowledge; and appreciating sources of legitimation (defining the beneficiaries of MAE and implications for practice).Conclusion: In practice, MAE evaluation should adopt methodological approaches that borrow from African-rooted paradigms, including relational approaches and tools grounded in African institutional frameworks, social systems and values. Made in Africa evaluation should mainstream an empowerment evaluation approach that aims at contributing towards positive social change and promoting epistemic freedom of African evaluators.

Empowerment Evaluation: A Practical Strategy for Promoting Stakeholder Inclusion and Process Ownership

Empowerment Evaluation is an evolving approach based in empowerment theory, self-determination theory, and evaluation capacity building theory. This strategy prioritizes a wrap-around approach that situates program stakeholders at the center of evaluation activities and collaborators in the development of many key processes. By adopting an empowerment evaluation approach, all stakeholders are subjected to an immersive learning experience which culminates in pride in ownership over the initiatives. In this article, we introduce the underlying principles of the three-step empowerment evaluation framework (Fetterman, Empowerment evaluation (pp. 20–42). SAGE Publications, Inc., 2015) and provide examples that can guide evaluation capacity building for programs and organizations. We illustrate how evaluators can assist programs and organizations in developing a mission, taking stock of their current status, and planning for the future. We provide a case example of an empowerment evaluation of an autism services collaborative using the three-step framework. Implications for evaluators of counseling and mental health programs are discussed.

Improved Agricultural Innovations and Women’s Empowerment: Multidimensionality of Empowerment and Program Evaluation Approach

Modern Concepts & Developments in Agronomy Improved Agricultural Innovations and Women’s Empowerment: Multidimensionality of Empowerment and Program Evaluation Approach Tsegaye Mulugeta Habtewold* Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, Arsi University, Assela, Ethiopia *Corresponding author:Tsegaye Mulugeta Habtewold, Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, Arsi University, Assela, Ethiopiao Submission: May 24, 2021Published: June 22, 2021 DOI: 10.31031/MCDA.2021.09.000701 ISSN 2637-7659Volume9 Issue 1

Toward a Regional Gerontological Agenda: The Use of Empowerment Evaluation

This article describes the application of an empowerment evaluation approach to nurturing the growth and priority setting of a regional organization. A model is provided of the processes whereby the Southern Gerontological Society (SGS) identified research and service priorities by conducting a survey of stakeholder perceptions of regional needs. The survey goal was to identify important issues faced by older adults in the South as a prelude to refining SGS research and service priorities and developing its contemporary regional gerontological agenda. We trace how the survey findings were translated into actions including shaping the annual meeting program, creating new standing committees, and developing service activities. Underlying the process of developing and refining this agenda are a set of key principles that have come to characterize the operation of SGS. These principles are discussed and provide a model for comparable organizations seeking to develop agendas consistent with their mission and identity.

Enhancing the pedagogical practice of South African Physical Sciences teachers in inquiry-based teaching through empowerment evaluation

ABSTRACT Scientific inquiry has been advocated as a common curriculum goal in school science education in South Africa, and also throughout the world. In South Africa, the introduction of inquiry-based instruction in a reformed science curriculum has met with serious challenges, such as the under-preparedness of in-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to capture, portray and develop the pedagogical practice of Physical Sciences teachers in inquiry-based teaching using an empowerment evaluation approach. The study is a multiple case study in inquiry-based teaching of three Physical Sciences teachers in South Africa using a mixed methods design. Empowerment evaluation is the use of evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. Underlying an inquiry-based pedagogy is the assumption that science education is not merely about knowing-acquisition, but understanding how scientific knowledge is generated, evaluation of knowledge claims and conducting scientific research. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, a pedagogical orientation instrument, and classroom observations. The findings reveal that through empowerment evaluation, teacher practices in the classroom shifted towards an inquiry-based approach. The empowerment evaluation approach thus offers a viable and sustained form of professional development that is likely to empower teachers in assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating what they do.

Application of a Multisite Empowerment Evaluation Approach to Increase Evaluation Capacity Among HIV Services Providers: Results From Project Pride in Chicago

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded Project PrIDE, a national initiative to implement and evaluate demonstration projects to increase PrEP uptake among HIV-negative individuals and to re-engage HIV-positive individuals in HIV care. Our team served as the Evaluation Center for Project PrIDE organizations in Chicago and used an empowerment evaluation (EE) approach to enhance evaluation capacity at these organizations. To evaluate our approach, we assessed organizations' evaluation capacity and engagement in technical assistance and capacity building activities in 2016 and 2018. Respondents who self-reported higher engagement with the Evaluation Center and who spent a greater number of hours engaged with our evaluators experienced greater increases in evaluation capacity tied to implementation of evaluation activities and technical assistance utilization. These findings demonstrate that multisite EE can be successfully applied to increase the evaluation capacity of organizations providing both HIV prevention and care services.

Empowerment Evaluation: A Case Study of Citywide Implementation within an HIV Prevention Context.

HIV continues to significantly impact the health of communities, particularly affecting racially and ethnically diverse men who have sex with men and transgender women. In response, health departments often fund a number of community organizations to provide each of these subgroups with comprehensive and culturally responsive services. To this point, evaluators have focused on individual interventions, but have largely overlooked the complex environment in which these interventions are implemented, including other programs funded to do similar work. The Evaluation Center was funded by the City of Chicago in 2015 to conduct a city-wide evaluation of all HIV prevention programming. This article will describe our novel approach to adapt the principles and methods of the Empowerment Evaluation approach, to effectively engage with 20 city-funded prevention programs to collect and synthesize multi-site evaluation data, and ultimately build capacity at these organizations to foster a learning-focused community.

Empowerment Evaluation in Spain: The Critical Friend Role in Working with Rural Communities

Rural communities in Cuenca (Spain) are characterized by a great social dislocation, mostly due to the low population density in these areas. In this way, the existence of groups of citizens able to be active agents of their development process is a critical aspect for any community-based development process in this Spanish region. The Institute of Community Development of Cuenca (IDC) has been working with this type of groups for the last 30 years focusing on the organizational empowerment of the rural communities. Main tools in this process have been the empowerment evaluation approach and the critical friend role when helping the groups to achieve their objectives and reinforcing them. This chapter analyses the empowerment process and how the critical friend role is nourished by the facilitator figure.

A Training Module for Evaluation Capacity Building of a Health Support Organisation in Thailand

Funders of health support organisation programmes have increasingly emphasised the importance of evaluation for effective programs. The health support organisation has focused upon improving the knowledge and skills of the health promotion organisation, including skills in evaluation and monitoring. This two-phase study aims to develop a training module for evaluation capacity building in a health support organisation of Thailand, and to build evaluation capacity within the health support staff, by using the empowerment evaluation approach. The first phase of the study was the developing of a training module, and the second phase was the building of evaluation capacity of the health support staff. The data were collected by testing, questionnaires, surveys, observation and interviews. It was found that the training module consisted of seven course topics, including evaluation concepts, evaluation questions, indicators and criteria, evaluation approaches, evaluation implementation, data analysis, evaluation reports and meta-evaluation. The results showed that the health support staff had highly positive reaction to the module, and the post-test result of the training was higher than the pre-test, in knowledge, attitudes, monitoring and evaluation skills.

Applicability of Empowerment Evaluation Approach in Community Program: Implications from its Theory and Practice

Empowerment evaluation advocated by David. M Fetterman is the use of evaluation concepts and techniques to foster transformation and self‑determination. In this article applicability and issues of empowerment evaluation is investigated through case study on empowerment evaluation of community program for health promotion in Tokyo. It provides an opportunity for a group of participants to empower themselves through evaluation activities as well as to internalize self‑evaluation mechanism for continuous improvement in the related organization. Major roles of evaluators include facilitator trainer of evaluation know‑how and even direct advocate to help the group be empowered. Empowerment evaluation appears most appropriate when the program itself has agenda of empowerment and social transformation. The mixed use of empowerment evaluation and conventional evaluations would make it possible to implement value‑pluralistic evaluations. The accumulation of experiences of empowerment evaluation in Japan is expected for further testing and adjustment of its theory and methodology.

Using an Empowerment Evaluation Approach with Community-based Programs: Reflections from the Front Line

Identifying the most appropriate approach for small-scale program evaluation remains a vexed issue for both the researchers who design and implement evaluations, and for the service provider organisations that seek to ensure that they can use the findings as evidence for further program funding. This article reflects on our experiences and the issues encountered in attempting to undertake useful small-scale, community-based program evaluation, particularly in regional settings, where the evaluation capacity, practices and cultures of organisations are still evolving. Cognisant of increasing funder-fundee tensions arising from more externally controlled social program evaluations and considering varied organisational, program, personnel, funding and broader political needs and influences, we have focused on tailoring evaluation approaches to ensure they are robust, relevant and responsive to the varied organisational contexts in which we are endeavouring to strengthen evaluation capacity. The approach that has emerged over the past eight years fits most closely with an empowerment evaluation framework that, although theoretically well suited, has had to be adapted in order to respect, and work productively with the frequently competing imperatives of the different stakeholders involved.

Using Empowerment Evaluation to Facilitate the Development of Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Prevention Programs

This article addresses the question, “What factors contributed to successful completion of a needs and resource assessment in local communities, using the empowerment evaluation approach?” Case studies of three successful projects allow the exploration of organizational, community, state, and national factors that contributed to a strong needs and resource assessment, including original data collection, to guide the development of a plan to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence. The overall project was guided by empowerment evaluation principles. Each local community used additional conceptual frameworks, including grounded theory, Kolberg's theory of moral development, gender-role attitudes as operationalized by the rape myth acceptance and Olweis' systemic approach to bullying. Local programs focused on specific populations and collected original data through a variety of methods. For instance, one local agency utilized already existing surveys to assess bullying within their public school setting. Another community assessed the attitudes of male sex offenders and other male community members regarding gender-role attitudes, violence, and risk and protective factors for perpetration. A third community administered a random phone survey, examining attitudes toward rape, other violence against women, and gender roles. Each community integrated the results of their original data collection into their needs and resource assessment. Preliminary information regarding the communities' experience with the completion of needs and resource assessments, using the empowerment evaluation framework, indicate that successful projects used specific theories or frameworks to guide data collection. Positive collaboration with evaluators and community prevention coalitions characterized each community's experience.

Building Evaluation Capacity in Spain

The development of European Community administrative authority has greatly influenced the development of an evaluation culture among the southern and central member states of the European Union. The present case study from Spain provides an example of this diffusion through the use of an empowerment evaluation approach to build evaluation capacity within the context of rural development. The study focuses on the evaluation process over a 10-year period of three local development programs run by three local partnerships created in the rural areas of the Madrid region through the European LEADER initiative. Critical components of empowerment evaluation are discussed, as well as the impact, limitations, difficulties, and applicability of the approach to rural development in the European Union. Conclusions are presented concerning evaluation capacity building and the development of an evaluation culture.

Emotional labour: listening to the patient's story

AbstractThis paper describes the use of an empowerment evaluation approach to evaluate a practice development programme in an acute hospital ward. This self‐evaluation approach included inviting clinicians to hear the patient's story. The engagement of clinicians in self‐evaluation resulted in increased clinician ownership of the evaluation findings and commitment to practice change. An additional outcome was that the emotional labour of health care was made explicit and clinicians acknowledged that they ‘turned off’ from the patient's story to protect themselves from burnout. Benner's model of ‘novice to expert’ is used to explore the capacity of clinicians to hear the patient's story and to explore the reasons why even expert clinicians may at times be unreceptive to this story. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Empowerment Evaluation Model for Sexual Assault Programs: Empirical Evidence of Effectiveness

Using an empowerment evaluation approach, the Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention (SARP) Evaluation Project brought together university researchers, public health evaluators, state funders, and program staff to provide evaluation training and consultation to all state-funded rape prevention and victim services programs in Michigan. In this paper, the specific activities of the SARP project are described, and process and outcome data are presented that address the effectiveness of this empowerment evaluation approach. Based on subjective reports from program staff and objective data obtained from state funders, results suggest that this evaluation model was successful in helping 90% of the prevention programs and 75% of the victim services programs successfully develop and launch program evaluations. One-year follow-up data indicate that 90% of the programs had sustained their evaluation efforts after the formal work of the SARP project had ended.

Assessment of Self-Determination—Negotiating the Minefield

Baker, Horner, Sappington, and Ard (in this issue) identified a variety of needs and challenges related to the assessment of self-determination in the field of developmental disability. This response augments Baker et al.'s call, identifying issues related to the use and abuse of assessing self-determination and suggesting an empowerment evaluation approach to these efforts.

Empowerment Evaluation Applied: Experiences, Analysis, and Recommendations from a Case Study

The empowerment evaluation approach is applied and examined within the context of a case study involving three comprehensive communities’ initiatives. Although considerable literature has been published concerning the efficacy and legitimacy of the empowerment evaluation approach, little documentation exists regarding the empirical application of this approach. In this article we discuss, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, issues related to the evaluator’s role, differences relative to other inclusive evaluation approaches, stakeholder involvement, evaluation context variables, and the concept and practice of empowering program participants via an evaluation approach. Data were gathered to assess how the approach was viewed through the eyes of both the evaluation consumers and the evaluators. Recommendations are discussed regarding the types of circumstances that might most facilitate and support the empowerment evaluation approach.

Empowerment evaluation applied: experiences, analysis, and recommendations from a case study

The empowerment evaluation approach is applied and examined within the context of a case study involving three comprehensive communities’ initiatives. Although considerable literature has been published concerning the efficacy and legitimacy of the empowerment evaluation approach, little documentation exists regarding the empirical application of this approach. In this article we discuss, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, issues related to the evaluator’s role, differences relative to other inclusive evaluation approaches, stakeholder involvement, evaluation context variables, and the concept and practice of empowering program participants via an evaluation approach. Data were gathered to assess how the approach was viewed through the eyes of both the evaluation consumers and the evaluators. Recommendations are discussed regarding the types of circumstances that might most facilitate and support the empowerment evaluation approach.