This study aimed to develop and validate the Evaluator Competencies Assessment Tool (ECAT) Cultural Competencies Subscale, which measures cultural competence among evaluators. By addressing the scarcity of validated tools in this area, the study offers professionals a valuable resource to assess their strengths and areas for improvement. The…

The effects of race can manifest in various ways in evaluation contexts, making it critical for evaluators to unpack how race and racism are "complex and destructive forces" for racially minoritized and Indigenous communities. The clarion calls by evaluators on the need for greater attention to issues of race and racism in evaluation…

Anxiety is a multifaceted force that can negatively impact the ability of evaluators to succeed in practice. In the evaluation literature, discussions concerning anxiety have primarily been limited to strategies to reduce stakeholder anxiety to encourage positive and productive working relationships with evaluators. This study was among the first…

Amid calls for evaluations to advance equity, there are ongoing debates, varied guidance, and limited empirical research on how evaluators practically attend to equity in their work. This article identifies ethical questions--about the right thing to do when there are multiple options--that arise when evaluators attend to equity and factors that…

The field of evaluation has experienced greater professionalization in the areas of evaluator education and training. Growth in these areas included sensitivity to issues of diversity, with efforts to attract and retain evaluators of color. Currently, there is limited scholarship on navigating a world with more opportunity but still dealing with…

"Integrative evaluation" is an approach with two main phases: identification of plausible rival hypotheses and integration of rival hypotheses. The first phase may correspond to traditional adversary evaluation, whereas the second phase, that is not included in adversary evaluation, requires integrative thinking which can be applied when…

The impostor phenomenon is a psychological construct referring to a range of negative emotions associated with a person's perception of their own "fraudulent competence" in a field or of their lack of skills necessary to be successful in that field. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many practicing evaluators have experienced impostor…

Mobile technologies, including apps, have become increasingly popular, and are being used to support daily activities among a variety of individuals. While the use of mobile technologies will not eliminate barriers often faced by individuals with disabilities, these systems have the potential to help minimize some of these barriers. As the…

Ethics review processes are frequently perceived as extending from codes and protocols rooted in biomedical disciplines. As a result, many researchers in the humanities and social sciences (HASS) find these processes to be misaligned, if not outrightly obstructive to their research. This leads some scholars to advocate against HASS participation…

Intentional synthesis of research findings is necessary to inform practice, particularly within the research on evaluation (RoE) literature. This study expands upon the work of Coryn et al. (2017) to synthesize the RoE studies pertaining to the domain of evaluation context. Findings from this study demonstrate that organization and program's size,…

This article explores the utility of mindfulness in the field of evaluation. Mindfulness is a translation of the ancient Indian word, "Sati," which means awareness, attention, and remembering. While definitions vary, a practical definition of mindfulness is present-moment awareness in an open and nonjudgmental manner. Mindfulness-based…

With a lack of consensus of what evaluation is within the field of evaluation, there is a difficulty in communicating to nonevaluators what evaluation is and how evaluation differs from research. To understand how evaluation is defined, both evaluators and researchers were asked how they defined evaluation and, if at all, differentiated evaluation…

This study challenges persistent misrepresentations of evaluation as a value-neutral inquiry process by presenting an empirical study that deepens understanding of evaluators' values and how they "show up" in evaluation practice. Through semistructured interviews and inductive analysis, we examined the values advanced by a sample of…

The profession of evaluation continues to grow, generating more demand for evaluation services than can be fulfilled by the supply of well-trained evaluation practitioners. In this brief forum article, we discuss the current state of evaluator education in the United States and the ways in which university-based programs support the development of…

Violence, marginalization, oppression, exploitation, erasure, and injustice are cornerstones of the Black experience in the United States. Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, Black people have worked diligently and competently to earn spaces within the present-day professional arena. While the experiences of Black professionals have been…