Suchergebnisse

Neoliberal efforts to extend the impact of the market on social life have been ongoing for several decades – and so has resistance to these efforts. In this article, key developments and effects of neoliberalism in Canada are outlined, especially those of most significance to social work. Within the current context, the work of civil society organisations is particularly remarkable. Allying with this form of resistance to neoliberalism, the article highlights stories from two such organisations told by the workers themselves. The story by the Disability Action Hall is about people with disabilities developing a collective identity and taking social action. The story by the Pembina Institute is about strategies to resist private amassing of profits from a public resource. The article concludes with a brief review of the work of the two organisations using tools available through the perspective of emancipatory social inquiry.

AbstractIn this commentary, a longtime admirer of Cousins and Whitmore discusses why their 1998 article on participatory evaluation made an important contribution to the field.This chapter posits two principal streams of participatory evaluation, practical participatory evaluation and transformative participatory evaluation, and compares them on a set of dimensions relating to control, level, and range of participation. The authors then situate them among other forms of collaborative evaluations.

AbstractThis chapter is the fruit of discussions among several evaluators with feminist inclinations. The authors explore numerous ideas or guidelines pertinent to feminist inquiry and begin the conversation that continues throughout this volume.

AbstractThis chapter completes the volume with reflections on what we have learned from this exploration and what pathways we must now follow.

This exploratory study investigates what adults learn through participation in community groups. An iterative content analysis was conducted on transcripts from ten in-depth interviews with active members of community groups throughout upstate New York. This process yielded 259 learning statements which were then classified into 8 learning categories. Here we present a rich description of what people learn in the context of local group activities. Understanding the learning that occurs in community group contexts has implications for adult educators and extension workers, as well as for the development of theoretical models of adult learning.

This exploratory study investigates what adults learn through participation in community groups. An iterative content analysis was conducted on transcripts from ten in-depth interviews with active members of community groups throughout upstate New York. This process yielded 259 learning statements which were then classified into 8 learning categories. Here we present a rich description of what people learn in the context of local group activities. Understanding the learning that occurs in community group contexts has implications for adult educators and extension workers, as well as for the development of theoretical models of adult learning.

Objectives:In this exploratory study, we wanted to know how evaluators differentiate collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE) perceived to be successful from those perceived to be less-than-successful.Method:In an online questionnaire survey, we obtained 320 responses from evaluators who practice CAE (i.e., evaluations on which program stakeholders coproduce evaluation knowledge). Respondents identified two specific CAE projects from their own experience—one they believed to be "highly successful" and another they considered "far less successful than [they] had hoped."—and offered their comments and reflections about them. They rated the respective evaluations on 5-point opinion and frequency scales about (i) antecedent stakeholder perspectives, (ii) the purposes and justifications for collaborative inquiry, and (iii) the form such inquiry takes.Findings:The results showed that successful evaluations, relative to their less-than-successful counterparts, tended to reflect higher levels of agreement among stakeholders about the focal program; higher intentionality estimates of evaluation justification and espoused purposes; and wider ranges and deeper levels of stakeholder participation. No differences were found for control of technical decision-making, and evaluators tended to lead evaluation decision making, regardless of success condition.Discussion:The results are discussed in terms of implications for ongoing research on CAE.