The act of valuing in an evaluation may be perceived in different ways. We consider the multiple theoretic perspectives that govern an evaluator's behavior and present a typology of evaluator valuing roles. Within this typology we describe three ways in which value judgments are typically reached--by stakeholders alone, stakeholders and evaluators…

Should evaluators care about the impact of evaluation on the public policy process? If the larger purpose of evaluation is social betterment, the public policy arena affords tremendous opportunities for evaluators to have both short- and long-term impact by influencing policy formulation, implementation, and outcomes. Working in the public policy…

Examining moral values and normative criteria in education, it is argued that evaluators are not just social scientists with expertise about scientific methods but also make value judgments about programs, policies, and interventions. Evaluators must consider the ethical assumptions from which they operate in conducting evaluations. (SLD)