Chapter 10: The Nature and Implications of an Evaluation Research Program

Much of the research described and discussed in this entire volume has been made possible through the financial support provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and that of the University of Ottawa. I remain grateful for this support and to the University of Ottawa for providing the enabling “space” that a flourishing research program requires.

I’ve come to realize that I first experienced “process use” at a tender academic age. Having recently completed my doctoral studies, I contributed to a published review and integration of empirical literature. The paper was titled “The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Principals’ Practice: An Agenda for Research” (Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990). This project influenced me in several ways: it (a) reminded me of the importance of empirical research as a link between theory and practice in human endeavors; (b) reinforced my understanding about the value of working together with colleagues to produce knowledge; (c) showed me how a serious, systematic review of what we “know” has enormous potential to set boundaries and identify priorities for the ongoing production of research-based knowledge and, perhaps most importantly; (d) engrained in my thinking a general conceptual framework that can be easily adapted to most domains of inquiry in the social sciences. The nature (practices), causes (influences) and consequences (impact) of x, where x is any complex psychosocial phenomenon, is a simple, useful and comprehensive heuristic for deepening understanding through identifying important variables and suggested relationships among them; that is, for constructing a conceptual framework that can assist in identifying gaps in understanding, priorities for inquiry and serve as a guide for original empirical research about x. I attribute these impacts to my mentor, Ken Leithwood, and our research on school leadership including my own doctoral thesis “Principals’ Use of Performance Appraisal Knowledge about Their Own Performance.”