Chapter 5: Uncontrolled Evaluation: The Case of Telecare Innovations

At the heart of evaluation is a set of criteria—too often implicit—that functions as a standard to which practices can be compared. These are usually criteria that can be operationalized and quantified. Examples are quality of life, self-management, and adherence to models or rules. Researchers often do not acknowledged the world of assumptions that underlie these evaluation studies and the criteria they use. Some of these assumptions are that interventions can be isolated from other events, and that these interventions have a causal, or at least highly probable, relationship to the effects observed. Researchers hardly ever question the idea that effects can be quantified and generalized over situations and populations (see Greenhalgh , Howick, & Maskrey, 2014; Mol & Karayalcin, 2008; Willems, Palmboom, & Lips, 2007 for critiques). Evaluation criteria incorporate moral ideas, for example, that criteria should be transparent so that those concerned know how something will be judged. As with school exams, those being tested should understand the criteria for testing.