Suchergebnisse

Identifying the most appropriate approach for small-scale program evaluation remains a vexed issue for both the researchers who design and implement evaluations, and for the service provider organisations that seek to ensure that they can use the findings as evidence for further program funding. This article reflects on our experiences and the issues encountered in attempting to undertake useful small-scale, community-based program evaluation, particularly in regional settings, where the evaluation capacity, practices and cultures of organisations are still evolving. Cognisant of increasing funder-fundee tensions arising from more externally controlled social program evaluations and considering varied organisational, program, personnel, funding and broader political needs and influences, we have focused on tailoring evaluation approaches to ensure they are robust, relevant and responsive to the varied organisational contexts in which we are endeavouring to strengthen evaluation capacity. The approach that has emerged over the past eight years fits most closely with an empowerment evaluation framework that, although theoretically well suited, has had to be adapted in order to respect, and work productively with the frequently competing imperatives of the different stakeholders involved.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in New South Wales, Australia. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 34 grandparents and their narratives transcribed and studied using paradigmatic analysis to reveal common themes among the stories told. Identity theory further informed the discussion of these findings. Woven throughout the grandparent narratives is a story of paradox – of experience simultaneously made up of pain/pleasure, myth/reality, inclusion/exclusion, being deserving/undeserving, visible/invisible and voiced/silenced. The findings signal a significant role‐identity conflict for grandparents who are parenting grandchildren. This study points to the need for policy and practice that more closely reflects the complexity of experience associated with the grandparent‐as‐parent role.

The involvement of children in research has gathered significant momentum following the almost universal ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the emergence of new theoretical interests that challenge conceptions of children as irrational, incompetent, vulnerable and unable to know and articulate what is in their own best interests. However, seeking the views of children and responding to what they have to say are heavily circumscribed by social and cultural norms and values that must be known and respected in order to ensure that the research is ethically and methodologically sound. This article reports on the experiences of a team of researchers undertaking a project that sought the views and perspectives of children in relation to learning and education in a rural province of Vietnam. It discusses the reflexive nature of such an endeavour that required a deep recognition of the influence of Confucian culture, particularly in relation to issues of who has authority to speak and on what matters, as well as detailed attention to children's existing experience of being consulted.