About guests:

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead is a Professor of Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation at the University of Connecticut, where she also directs the Partnership for Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER). As Co-Editor-in-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation and a fervent advocate for evaluation, Bianca has dedicated her career to bridging the space between evaluation theory and practice. Her work encompasses a broad spectrum of contributions, from evaluating various educational and social programs using diverse methodologies to enhancing the professional training of evaluators worldwide.

Daniela Schroeter serves as a Presidential Innovation Professor and Associate Professor at Western Michigan University. With a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Evaluation and over twenty years of research, Daniela has contributed substantially to developing evaluation theories and methodologies. Her global work has involved diverse sectors, focusing on enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of evaluations. Daniela also co-edits the Teaching & Learning of Evaluation section of the American Journal of Evaluation.

Lyssa Wilson Becho serves as a Principal Research Associate at The Evaluation Center of Western Michigan University. Garnering the 2024 Marcia Guttentag Promising New Evaluator Award, Lyssa has made a significant impact in advancing evaluation methodologies, focusing on culturally responsive practices and promoting equity within evaluation processes. Lyssa is a co-Executive Editor for the Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation.

Collectively, their innovative work in evaluation spans continents, cementing their reputation as leaders in advancing the practical, theoretical, and methodological facets of the discipline.

Contact information:

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead

• Email: bianca@uconn.edu
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/BMMoorhead/
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bianca-Montrosse-Moorhead

Daniela Schröter

• Email: daniela.schroeter@wmich.edu
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielaschroeter/
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniela-Schroeter

Lyssa Wilson Becho

• Email: lyssa.becho@wmich.edu
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyssa-wilson-becho/
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lyssa-Becho

Resources mentioned:

Project vita (biography or résumé) with links to all free and publicly available resources: https://tinyurl.com/EvalGardenVita

Montrosse-Moorhead, B., Schröter, D., & Becho, L. W. (2024). The garden of evaluation approaches visualization. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 20(48), 49–58. https://journals.sfu.ca/jmde/index.php/jmde_1/article/view/1029

Montrosse-Moorhead, B., Schröter, D., & Becho, L. W. (2024). The garden of evaluation approaches. American Journal of Evaluation, 45(2), 166–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140231216667

Bledsoe, K. L., & Graham, J. A. (2005). The use of multiple evaluation approaches in program evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 26(3), 302-319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214005278749

King, J. (2024) Garden of evaluation approaches with SROI and CBA https://linkedin.com/posts/julian-king-87a015a_cba-sroi-vfi-activity-7201338499776618497-J3-z/

Miller, R. L. (2010). Developing standards for empirical examinations of evaluation theory. American Journal of Evaluation, 31(3), 390–399. https://doi.org/10/fmzjxp

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Articles Mentioned:

• At the beginning I mention the RoE TIG’s definition of RoE, which is summarized here.
• Evaluation Journal of Australasia – Special Issue on Values in Evaluation
  • Vol 19, Issue 4: Guest Editors: Keryn Hassall, Kelly Hannum, Amy Gullickson and Mathea Roorda
  • Vol 20, Issue 2: Guest Editors: Ayesha S Boyce, Amy M Gullickson, Keryn Hassall and Kelly Hannum
• New Directions for Evaluation Volume 2020, Issue 166 - Examining issues facing communities of color today: The role of evaluation to incite change: Issue Editors: Leah C. Neubauer Dominica McBride Andrea D. Guajardo Wanda D. Casillas Melvin E. Hall
  • Neubauer, McBride, Guajardo, Casillas, & Hall (2020) Examining issues facing communities of color today: The role of evaluation to incite change
  • Hall (2020) Blest be the tie that binds
  • Reid, Boyce, Adetogun, Moller, & Avent (2020) If not us, then who? Evaluators of color and social change
  • Ghanbarpour, Mercado, & Palotai (2020) A language justice framework for culturally responsive and equitable evaluation
  • Dhaliwal, Casey, Aceves-Iniguez, & Dean-Coffey (2020) Radical inquiry—liberatory praxis for research and evaluation
  • Guajardo, Robles-Schrader, Aponte-Soto, & Neubauer (2020) LatCrit theory as a framework for social justice evaluation: Considerations for evaluation and evaluators
  • Moss & Crewe (2020) The Black perspective: A framework for culturally competent health related evaluations for African Americans
  • Lemos & Garcia (2020) Promoting culturally responsive and equitable evaluation with Latinx immigrants
  • Bowman (2020) Nation-to-nation in evaluation: Utilizing an indigenous evaluation model to frame systems and government evaluations
  • McBride, Casilla, & LoPiccolo (2020) Inciting social change through evaluation
  • Neubauer & Hall (2020) Is inciting social change something evaluators can do? Should do?
• Lemire, Peck, & Porowski (2020) The growth of the evaluation tree in the policy analysis forest
• Hurteau, Rahmanian, Houle, & Marchand (2020) The role of intuition in evaluative judgment and decision
• Brown & Di Lallo (2020) Talking circles: A culturally responsive evaluation practice
• MERL Tech State of the Field Series
• Engage R&D (2020) Listening for change: Evaluators of color speak out about experiences with foundations and evaluation firms

Contact:

EvaluLand: Website & Twitter (@EvaluLand)

Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

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Topics Covered:

• How Zach got into evaluation and at Western Michigan University (01:12)
• What peacebuilding evaluation is (03:52)
• Evaluation specialists vs generalists (05:45)
• Research on evaluation and meta-evaluation (09:50)
• Prescriptive vs descriptive theories (22:35)
• Evaluation theory (25:00)
• Zach’s dissertation: RoE on peacebuilding evaluation (35:50)
• Adjusting to life amidst Covid-19 (40:10)
• What’s next for Zach (46:00)
• What’s giving life for Zach (50:55)

Resources mentioned:

• Western Michigan University Interdisciplinary PhD in Evaluation, including Michael Harnar and Chris Coryn
• EPP article on knowledge syntheses
• AEA Research on Evaluation TIG
• Blog describing working group’s updated RoE definition
• Weaver & Cousins article on participatory evaluation
• AEA Integrating Technology into Evaluation TIG
• MERL Tech conference
• Everyday Peace Indicators
• Digital Impact Alliance
• Evaluation Practice Reconsidered by Thomas Schwandt
• EvalCentral Unwebinars, Blogs, and Discussion Forum
• Equitable Evaluation Initiative
• Eval4Action Campaign
• Black youth-led movements: Black Visions Collective Reclaim the Block, The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, and Minnesota Freedom Fund

Contact:

• Zach Tilton: @ZachTilton on Twitter and zachary.d.tilton@wmich.edu
• EvaluLand: Website & Twitter (@EvaluLand)

About Zach:

Zach Tilton is a Doctoral Research Associate at the Interdisciplinary PhD in Evaluation Program at Western Michigan University where he is setting and pursuing an agenda for research on peacebuilding evaluation. He holds a BS in Peacebuilding and Business Management from Brigham Young University-Hawaii and an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford. Along with peacebuilding evaluation, he researches technology-enabled evaluation, meta-evaluation, and participatory and collaborative evaluation. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, a Rotary Peace Fellow, an Institute for Economics and Peace Ambassador, and has worked as an evaluation practitioner for various international peacebuilding organizations. He is also currently an Evaluation Consultant for the Digital Impact Alliance at the United Nations Foundation, an Associate at Everyday Peace Indicators, and the Co-chair for the Topical Interest Group for Integrating Technology into Evaluation and the EvalYouth representative to the American Evaluation Association.

Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

Support EvaluLand