Читать книгу An Introduction to Evaluation - Chris Fox - Страница 42

There are some key differences between ethics in evaluation and ethics in social research more generally. For Simons (2006), these stem in part from the characteristics of the evaluation field that distinguish it from other types of social research, including the public nature of evaluation in providing an evidence base for informed judgement and public dialogue, the centrality of judgement in the evaluative process, the inherently political nature of evaluation, and the need for evaluation to be independent. Also important however is the context within which much evaluation takes place, particularly the ‘intensification of accountability and managerialism in institutions, an increase in governance and quality assurance programmes, and a preoccupation with audit, monitoring, regulation and control’ (Simons 2006: 244). Simon suggests that a greater emphasis on ethics in evaluation may, in part, be a response to this external pressure for regulation.

One notable difference lies in the stated need for the evaluator to behave ethically (or of ‘being principled’) independent of the evaluation’s characteristics, focus, target audience, and so forth. In research more broadly researchers need to ensure that certain ethical guidelines are followed to create an ethical environment for the ‘subjects’ of the research that need to be treated ethically. In evaluations, evaluators are expected to intrinsically possess ethical principles (see, for instance, Stake and Mabry 1998).