Global Directory of Academic Programs in Evaluation – Objective and methodology

The first-ever global directory of academic training programs in evaluation was developed through a collaborative effort between doctorate research of the Claremont Graduate University/ School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation and the Global Evaluation Initiative.

A group of international experts from academia and other relevant institutions from the field of evaluation provided advice to the team throughout the process of developing the Global Directory of Academic Programs in Evaluation.

The operational definition adopted for academic training programs in evaluation was: “multiple courses, seminars, practica, offerings, and so on designed to teach evaluation principles and concepts” (King and Ayoo, 2020: 3).

The purpose of the directory is to provide information about academic programs in evaluation in different regions and countries across the globe. More specifically, the directory is intended to serve the following purposes for different interested groups:

  • Prospective students who want to acquire competencies and skills in evaluation.
  • Staff from public and private (for-profit and non-profit) organizations who want to strengthen their evaluation capabilities.
  • Evaluation education program administrators and academic staff who wish to learn from their peers and foster knowledge sharing and collaboration.
  • Representatives from Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) who wish to disseminate information about learning opportunities in evaluation among their membership.
  • Researchers, evaluation scholars and other interested parties who wish to understand the scope and diversity in academic training opportunities in evaluation.
  • Evaluation champions and other interested parties who wish to contribute to the development of the field and practice of evaluation.

The inclusion criteria for the directory were the following:

  • Programs that are offered by official academic institutions.
  • Programs that are offered at the postgraduate level (diploma, certificate, Master, Doctorate).
  • Programs with an exclusive or predominant focus on evaluation of policy interventions.
  • Programs with at least two courses with the word ‘evaluation’ in the title.
  • Programs with a duration of three months or longer or a workload of 42 hours or more.

Programs offered by non-academic institutions and short-term programs offered by academic institutions are not included in the directory.

The methodological approach to collect and compile the data was the following:

  • Review of existing directories of academic training programs in evaluation (e.g. published in academic journals and PhD dissertations).
  • Interviews with representatives from VOPEs and the Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR).
  • A systematic web-scraping exercise using Google API with taxonomies in multiple languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin).
  • Manual validation and data cleaning of all records.

The directory will be updated periodically. Evaluation education program leaders are invited to contact the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) with updated or new information.

 

Reference

King, J. A., & Ayoo, S. (2020). What do we know about evaluator education? A review of peer-reviewed publications (1978–2018). Evaluation and Program Planning79, 101785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2020.10178

 

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