Reflections Over 25 Years

Evaluation Then, Now, and Into the Future

Authors

  • Ross Conner Professor Emeritus, School of Social Ecology, University of California Irvine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.0025.014

Abstract

When approached to write a commentary for this volume, I was very excited to be involved because I value failure. Let me explain. I am a firm believer that we can learn more from our failures than from our successes. I say “can learn more” instead of “do learn more” because, too often, we miss this valuable opportunity, focusing instead on the frustration, defeat, misunderstandings, recriminations, and justifications that are part of the experience. But failure, or “mistakes” more generally, lie in the realm of knowledge, so if we are alert, we get closer to better knowledge. That was the promise and potential I foresaw in the contributions to this special 25th anniversary issue and why I quickly said “yes!” without knowing what the contents would be or who the authors would be.

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Published

2011-01-21

How to Cite

Conner, R. (2011). Reflections Over 25 Years: Evaluation Then, Now, and Into the Future. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 25(3), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.0025.014

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 3 (2011): Special Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Ross Conner

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