Title: Cultural Competency and Evaluation: An Overview
1Cultural Competency and Evaluation An Overview
- Ranjana Damle
- Albuquerque Public Schools
- New Mexico Evaluators
- 2009 Summer Conference
2Outline of the Presentation
- Purposes of evaluation
- Brief discussion of evaluation theory
- Types of evaluation new discourse, trends
efforts to live up to evaluations promise - Context of evaluation
- Social construction of reality common
assumptions and blind spots - Issues of power and social justice
- Culture, cultural competency, culturally
competent evaluation - A case study that ties in many of these points
3Evaluation Purposes
- Accountability and program improvement
- Policy development and informed decisions
- Systematic inquiry to generate knowledge
4Three Main Streams in Evaluation Theory
- Methods creating knowledge using rigorous
research techniques - Valuing evaluators discern and place a value on
their findings favors decision makers - Use evaluations intended to inform decision
making various stakeholders perspective
incorporated to increase use
Alkin Christie 2004
5Evolution of Evaluation
- Participatory a continuum minimal to full
participation of the stakeholders a buy-in for
the evaluation in the organization Bradley
Cousins - Collaborative to increase the chance of
evaluation use - Utilization-Focused Michael Patton
- Responsive Robert Stake Stakeholder
perspective needs to be represented In the
evaluation-extends from decision-makers to a
variety of stakeholders, however, evaluator is
the final authority
6Use for the Intended Users
- Empowerment David Fetterman - stakeholder
controlled self-determination as a goal of the
approach - Advocacy democratic Jennifer Greene
(Evaluators inevitably take sides.) - Social Justice Ernie House Evaluation is
never value neutral and it should tilt in the
direction of the poor and the powerless. - Cultural Competence in Evaluation Karen
Kirkhart, also Rodney Hopson, Saumitra SenGupta,
Melva Thompson-Robinson, many others
7Context of Evaluation
- Political, economic, social, cultural
- Diversity - age, sexual orientation, differential
abilities, race and ethnicity, gender, immigrant
status, etc. - Less discussed differences - access to power,
education socioeconomic status, class living
situation
8Social Theory
- Social construction of reality
- There is a social dimension to human behavior
- We create, attach meaning to symbols
- Reality is not absolute but as individuals or
groups define it - Cultural relativity examples, adult son living
at home, parental participation in schools
9Some Common Observations, Experiences across
Societies
- We relate to people that share our experiences
- In-groups and out-groups embracing in-group
norms and beliefs, critical of out-groups - Middle class bias in education and other social
institutions
10Invisible, Hidden, Impactful
- Privilege taken for granted by those who have
it - Blindness towards the underprivileged e.g.
caste societies - Dominant norms - treatment of else as something
deficit
11Evaluation and Issues of Power, Equity, Social
Justice
- Unequal power relations between different
stakeholders - Whose interests are represented in the
evaluation? - Objectivity and neutrality versus inherent
biases, e.g. favoring the management
12Defining Culture
- Food, music, clothes
- Customs, norms, beliefs, myths, social
institutions, language, other symbols, traits - Values - While there are some universal values,
there is variation across cultural groups.
13Cultural Competency
- Being effective in cross-cultural situations and
able to relate to many cultures - As an evaluator, being able to recognize the
culture-specific strengths and weaknesses - A distinction to be noted
- Evaluating cultural competence
- Cultural competence in evaluation
14Cultural Competency in Programs Evaluation
- Cultural competency in program development
- Respect, appreciation, flexibility, recognition
of values and needs although different from ours
programs likely to be more effective if
culturally relevant, e.g. population control
programs - Cultural competency in evaluation
- Culturally responsive evaluations
- Ethical issues, equity, awareness of the power
imbalance, identifying program elements that seem
to make programs work for non-dominant cultures
15Towards Successful Evaluations
- Cultural competency
- Is essential in study design, validity of
measurements, and data collection - Leads to pertinent questions what strategies in
a successful program served the needs of the
(minority) clients and why so - Leads to a greater buy-in, evaluation findings
are applied towards improving programs
16A Case of Lofty Goals, Unilateral Program
Design, Wasted Effort
- The Myth of Population Control by Mahmood Mamdani
(1973) - Program was designed to educate the villagers
about family planning but without taking in to
account their experience, perceptions, values,
and realities of their lifes challenges - Cultural competency issue of rationality
- Validity of measurement closely tied to cultural
competency what was measured and how - Outcome and lessons
17- Contact Information
- Ranjana Damle
- Research and Evaluation
- 872-6801
- damle_at_aps.edu