The Guiding Principles for Evaluators serve as the cornerstone of good evaluation practice. Developed in 1994 as guidelines for sound, ethical practice, they have been broadly vetted with the AEA membership and reviewed and revised at regular intervals in order to ensure that they remain current with the field.
In 2006-2007, the AEA Ethics Committee worked with a range of evaluators to develop a training package aimed at introducing the Guiding Principles in a workshop format and engaging evaluators in discussion about ethical practice. The resulting package, having been reviewed by an expert panel and approved for distribution by the AEA Board of Directors, is available for use for personal instruction or as a starting point for facilitating a workshop on the Guiding Principles.The training package was further updated in 2013.
The AEA Guiding Principles Training Package Components:
Facilitator's Guide (pdf): Read this first for an overview of the components of the training package and for useful information on preparing for and conducting a training workshop.
PowerPoint Presentation (pdf or ppt):The PowerPoint presentation with facilitator notes can be used as is or adapted for your workshop context. This is available in two versions:
Powerpoint as pdf document: The pdf version includes full notes and is good for initial review and self-study
Powerpoint as ppt document: The PowerPoint version may be manipulated to show both notes and slides and customized for your own presentations.
Case Study Worksheet (pdf): The blank work sheet is to be used by participants during the small group exercise.
Case Studies and Completed Work Sheets: Three evaluation case studies that illustrate the Guiding Principles with corresponding completed work sheets are available to use in the small group exercise. The completed work sheets are for the facilitator to use as a guide for discussion after the small group exercise.
1a. Case Study 1 (pdf): The case study is about an external evaluation of a health program to be used in the small group exercise.
1b. Completed Case Study Work Sheet 1 (pdf): This completed work sheet is only for the facilitator as a guide for discussion about the health program case study after the small group exercise.
2a.Case Study 2 (pdf): The case study is about an external evaluation of a rural homeless program to be used in the small group exercise.
2b. Completed Case Study Work Sheet 2 (pdf): This completed work sheet is only for the facilitator as a guide for discussion about the rural homeless program case study after the small group exercise.
3a. Case Study 3 (pdf): The case study is about an external evaluation of a school improvement planning initiative to be used in the small group exercise.
3b. Completed Case Study Work Sheet 3 (pdf): This completed work sheet is only for the facilitator as a guide for discussion about the school improvement planning initiative case study after the small group exercise.
AEA Guiding Principles (pdf): The full version of the Guiding Principles can be distributed before or during the workshop.
Workshop Evaluation Form (pdf): This optional form can be used to have participants evaluate your workshop.
Ethical Reasoning Article (pdf)
If you should have questions about this training package, please contact the AEA office at info@eval.org.