Chapter 8: Making Culturally Responsive Decisions in Evaluation Practice

Successful evaluations inform the iterative progress of successful programs, which often translate into positive change in underprivileged communities or can provide evidence to effect institutional and government policies. Information learned through program evaluations can inform social perceptions and is critical to positioning a program and its participants in the immediate and larger communities (Bledsoe & Graham, 2005; Hilliard, 1989). In program contexts where participants have distinct cultural characteristics, such as racial/ethnic heritage, language, sexual orientation, disability, or religious/spiritual orientation, the success of an evaluation depends on an evaluator’s ability to identify and respond to relevant cultural elements of the program and its participants (Frierson, Hood, Hughes, & Thomas, 2010). Thus, the decision to evaluate a culturally situated program commits a professional to an ethical and principled practice that validates the important role of an evaluation for the stakeholders of a culturally situated program. Under these circumstances, an evaluator must move beyond traditional evaluation methods to incorporate a culturally responsive approach. In this chapter, we address how an evaluator can recognize and make culturally responsive decisions in order to make their evaluation practice responsive to the needs of culturally unique communities.