Hello! We’re Tiffany Tovey and Ken Linfield, members of the Case Collaborative, a global group of evaluators who began meeting in 2018 to share insights and work together on research and publications around the use of evaluation cases.
I (Tiffany) am the director of the Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and I teach research methods and program evaluation courses in the Information, Library, and Research Sciences Department in the School of Education. And I (Ken) am a Professor Emeritus at Spalding University in Louisville, KY, where I taught Program Evaluation in the PsyD program for 15 years.
This week, members of our group will share insights about how cases are valuable components in the field of evaluation for instructors, practitioners, researchers, and commissioners. First, a bit of background on what a case is and how useful it can be for us as evaluators, new or experienced.
So, what is a case? Cases are “a series of events, real or imagined, that tell an evaluation story to promote student learning, including illustrating a concept, skill development, and facilitating critical thinking, among other goals.” They can vary in comprehensiveness (the whole evaluation process or a small part of it), be grounded in real life or be an amalgam of experiences, may serve numerous purposes, and be tailored for varied audiences (practitioners, clients/stakeholders, and traditional student learners). The best part about using cases is that they ground us in the contexts within which evaluators work.
As a group, we have seen the powerful contribution that cases can make in evaluation instruction. Many aspects of evaluation course content can seem abstract, such as noting that evaluators assess “implementation” and work with “stakeholders.” These concepts, while accurate, can easily be interpreted in different ways by different students. In contrast, the specific details of cases provide clear examples that students can understand and begin to integrate into their overall picture of what evaluation is and does. Further, cases provide examples of both successes and failures, so students can begin to understand both positive goals and directions to be avoided.
We have also explored what it looks like for practitioners to engage with cases. It is highly useful for evaluators to learn from one another! Most evaluators have typical styles of proceeding, so seeing other evaluators’ typical styles can provide useful alternative possibilities and insights into some of the strengths and weaknesses of those other approaches.
During our final post this week, we will share about experts creating cases, and we call on you to write your own cases and share them with the evaluation community. The experience of writing cases is highly reflective and helps us to metaevaluate our work. Writing (and publishing) cases not only helps you to process your own experiences and learn from them, but also puts your work out there for others to learn from!
We hope you enjoy this week’s posts, and feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or insights to share with the Case Collaborative! Sincerely, Ken (klinfield@spalding.edu) and Tiffany (tlsmi32@uncg.edu).
Rad Resources
- Check out our whole New Directions for Evaluation Special Issue: Case-centered Teaching and Learning in Evaluation. You get access to this issue for free if you’re logged into your AEA account.
- Check out Chapter 1 of the volume to learn more about what a case is and why we should be using them more in teaching and learning about evaluation.
- Check out the case repository, and consider submitting your own case!
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Case Collaborative week. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from members of the Case Collaborative, a global group of evaluators focused on the use of evaluation cases. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.