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Ethnographic Evaluation Award
Committee #4, Ethnographic Approaches to Evaluation in Education, of the Council on Anthropology and Education, awards the Ethnographic Evaluation Award recognizes expertise in using an ethnographic design for evaluation.
Guidelines
Submission of evaluation studies for the Ethnographic Evaluation Award is open to any ethnographic evaluator, whether or not they are members of the American Anthropological Association. An evaluation study submitted to the Committee for the Ethnographic Evaluation Award must employ an ethnographic design for evaluation, or it must employ substantial application of ethnographic methods and concepts to evaluation.
Timelines
August 30: Deadline for submission of NOT MORE THAN 15 page report as
further defined below.
September 1: Determination of up to five finalists. Notification sent for additional documentation.
November: Presentation of award at Council on Anthropology and
Education business meeting at annual meeting of AAA.
Award Criteria
In General: The award will be based on a report of not more than 15 pages, double spaced, 12 point type which, in the opinion of the award committee, best meets the award criteria listed below. The report should address as many of the criteria as possible; and it should be ordered such that it is clear to the committee which of the criteria is being addressed in any particular section, although the ordering of the report is left to the discretion of the submitter.
Please note: The study on which the report is based should be explicitly evaluative as well as ethnographic. The study’s findings constitute only one of a number of award criteria.
The Report should:
1. Be responsive to the audience(s) and purpose(s) of the study;
2. Fully explain methods, process of data collection and analysis and any terms used for interpretation;
3. Include a thorough, reflexive examination of methods and process;
4. Be clearly written.
Criteria:
Submissions will be judged on the basis of the following specific criteria revised April 5, 2001).
Purpose, Audience:
1. The purpose(s) and goals of the evaluation are clearly stated.
2. The audience(s) is/are clearly identified. The audience could include power groups, stakeholders, constituencies, clients, granting agencies and/or university committees.
Perspective:
1. The report is ethnographic in nature, and the evaluation focuses on cultural interpretation.
2. The report addresses perspective(s)/ positionality of evaluator(s).
Methods:
1. The study primarily relies on qualitative methodology appropriate to the evaluation, including: participant observation, interviews, artifact collection, document analysis, verbatim quotations and/or focus groups.
2. The study primarily Involves direct, sustained contact with the program being studied either all at once or periodically over a long period of time.
3. The study is grounded in theory and/or important aspects of relevant literature program and methods) which grounding includes the derivation of the evaluative framework.
4. The study relies on inductive analysis potentially including thick description, grounded theory development, constant comparative method and/or triangulation.
5. The study builds descriptive, interpretive, theoretical and evaluative knowledge from the perspective(s) of participants.
6. Analysis addresses threats to validity of findings.
7. Impact and/or implementation/use are built into the design of the evaluation.
Findings:
1 The study proved responsive to audience(s) and purpose(s).
2. The study also proved pertinent and useful to the program and the sponsor of the evaluation.
3. The study’s design and conduct demonstrate coherence to stated theoretical grounding and the theoretical groundings are relevant to findings.
4. The study addressed issues of impact and/or implementation/use.
5. The study identified unanticipated outcomes.
Additional documentation:
The Award Committee will pick up to five finalists from among all submissions. Those finalists will be requested to furnish additional documentation. That documentation would include actual report(s) submitted to client(s) and/or other audiences; and a letter from a client/audience for the evaluation, addressing how the evaluation findings were used. Failure to supply requested additional documentation by the date specified in the request will eliminate that report from award consideration.
2002-2003 Ethnographic Evaluation Award Committee:
Wes Shumar,
Submissions and/or inquiries may be addressed to:
Wes Shumar
Department of Culture and Comm.
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215.895.2060
FAX: 215.895.1333
E-mail: Wes@drexel.edu
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