Toward an Evidence-Based Approach to Building Evaluation Capacity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.69191Keywords:
assessment tool, early childhood development field, evaluation capacity, evaluation capacity assessment, measurement, structural equation modellingAbstract
Organizations are required to evaluate their programs for both learning and accountability purposes, which has increased the need to build their internal evaluation capacity. A remaining challenge is access to tools that lead to valid evidence supporting internal capacity development. The authors share practical insights from the development and use of the Evaluation Capacity Needs Assessment tool and framework and implications for using its data to make concrete decisions within Canadian contexts. The article refers to validity evidence generated from factor analyses and structural equation modelling and describes how applying the framework can be used to identify individual and organizational evaluation capacity strengths and gaps, concluding with practice considerations and future directions for this work.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Btissam El Hassar, Cheryl Poth, Rebecca Gokiert, Okan Bulut

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