Evaluation is always very important aspect in the determination of the performance of an organization. It is the process of determining the worth of a thing and improvement on one aspect of the whole system . This essay discusses the meaning of goal-free evaluation, describes who Michael Scriven is, highlights purpose of the evaluation and how this evaluation arises.
It is the evaluation process where the evaluator has no knowledge of intended goals or outcome of the program. It is a program evaluation where the official or stated program objectives are withheld from the evaluator. The evaluation happens without particular knowledge or reference to predetermined goals and objectives
Michael Scriven
He is a British-born Australian academic philosopher and mathematician . He has contributed greatly to the theory of evaluation. He is the pioneer of the development of goal-free evaluation theory .
The purpose of goal evaluation
The importance of goal free evaluation is to uncover deficits or benefits that will not have been achieved if the evaluator was sorely looking for particular results. This happens by evaluating something and realizing some more details about the project which had not been known earlier .
Secondly, there is no need for alternative means or a change for the evaluation. No particular importance is placed on a particular goal so no need for alternative paths to those goals .
It also assists in the alignment of goals with the actuals programs activities. Goal-free evaluation is more practical than theoretical evaluation program thus is particularly important in testing the achievability of the goals .
In addition, it is important in avoiding the rhetoric of the ‘true goal’ situation. It circumvents the difficult rhetoric of often contaminating tasks in the traditional evaluations of trying to identify the current true goals .
It supplements and informs the goal-based evaluation. Goal-free evaluation is reversible thus an evaluator can start on the goal-free evaluation and later switch to goal-based evaluation using the collected data .
It can be used to determine if what occurred can logically be attributed to the program. If the program is very adaptive to contextual changes like changes in consumer needs, program goals, and program sources. This evaluation can continue despite any changes due to its flexibility .
It is also used to identify relevant effects by observation and measurement to examine without referencing goals and objectives.
How this approach comes about
There is a lot of good will and trust that comes with the evaluator that they will find a solution. This will encourage goal-free evaluation since no pressure is put on the evaluator.
It can also come about if the evaluator is interested in the program without being interested in the outcomes.
Traditional goals can contradict each other thus there is the need for a new evaluation that is not goal specific. This avoids complications that can arise with colliding goals and thus various evaluation can proceed without fear of contradiction.
The goal-free evaluation is the best option especially to avoid bias in the researcher.
In our company, it can be implemented in the evaluation of the consumer uptake of our products. No specific goal will be set and thus, the random analysis will assist us have a clear picture of the performance of our products in the market and realize any unexpected outcome .
Disadvantages
-It can lead to difficulty in doing internal evaluation
-It can be difficult to determine the target outcome at the end of the evaluation
-It can be more time consuming and less cost effective since the evaluator does
not know what they are looking for.
Works Cited
Ingraham, Allyssa and Youker Brandon. "Goal-Free Evaluation: An Orientation for Foundations' Evaluations." The Foundation Review (2014): 51-61. Document.
Michael Scriven. n.d. 25 February 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Scriven>.
Saalman, Dustin , Collete Segler and Sara Barnwell. "Goal Free Evaluation Introduction." Youtube. 25 February 2016. Video. 25 2 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__0yWU1Sh-w>.
Worthen, B. R, H. Walberg and G Haartel. "Program evaluation." The international encyclopedia of educational evaluation (1990): 42-47. Document.
Youker, Brandon and Ingraham Lyza. "Goal-free evaluation: A potential model for the evaluation of social work programs [Part 2]." Grand Valley State University, 25 February 2016. Video. 25th February 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrvqVNAzwW8>.
