Identifies key factors that should be considered by those engaged in the evaluation of overseas development projects to ensure that the evaluation process leads to the empowerment of local stakeholders. A literature review resulted in the development of seven guidelines for evaluation of overseas development projects. (SLD)

Conflict of interest refers to a set of conditions in which professional judgment concerning the validity of research might be influenced by a secondary competing interest. The competing interest that has received most attention in the literature addressing the prevalence and effects of such conflicts on the practice of empirical research has been…

Evaluators vary in their propensity to make direct valuative judgments of program worth. The decision to include recommendations with a report or provide merely descriptive evaluation depends on individuals' perspectives concerning the nature of reality, truth and values, human agency, and informational utility. (SLD)

The status of formal recommendations is different in the naturalistic evaluation model than in the traditional empirical model. The evaluation of a high school peer support program for alcohol abuse prevention illustrates that reader-generated recommendations may have more usefulness and impact than do evaluator-generated ideas. (SLD)