Hello everyone,
I believe the answer to the question from Rebecca Hardwick does indeed depend on the meaning of the question itself, because "process evaluation" is not a well-defined evaluation model upon which there is agreement between institutions and evaluators.
Process evaluation may mean an "implementation evaluation" as Craig Chambers suggests, and may focus either on barriers and helpers for an implementation with high fidelity, on assessing the fidelity itself, or both.
Or we may take the definition from Patton's /Utilization-Focused Evaluation/ (4th edition: 324): "...looking at /how/ a product or outcome is produced rather than looking at the product itself". (I would add: But of course in order to look at the process, you have to take into account the products/outputs/outcomes, because they are the fulfillment of the process).
This means asking process questions rather than variance questions according to the typology of Joseph A. Maxwell. But is a mechanism not also a process? Maxwell explicitly states so: “For critical realists, in contrast, the concept of “mechanism” (in the social sciences, “process” is the usual term) is central to explanation, and these mechanisms and processes are seen as real phenomena, rather than simply as abstract models“ (Maxwell 2012:8-9).
Summing it all up, I would suggest that realist evaluation is a member of the family of process evaluations which comes with specific foundations, principles and perspectives for looking at "processes". So the choice between realist evaluation and process evaluation would be a choice between a process evaluation with a focus on CMO's or a process evaluation with a focus on other questions.
Best regards,
Mikkel Møldrup-Lakjer
Evaluation Consultant
Denmark
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Fra: Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Synthesis: Evolving Standards [mailto:[log in to unmask]] På vegne af Craig Chambers
Sendt: 24. januar 2018 13:49
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Emne: Re: In what circumstances would you do a realist evaluation over a process evaluation?
Hi Rebecca,
my very naive response, having never conducted a process evaluation and being only just over a year's worth of part-time PhD into realist evaluation, would be the answer is partly in the question. Is a process evaluation not an evaluation of whether a process has been implemented correctly/successfully or not? This would not have to consider outcomes as they may be contingent upon some other parameter. The focus instead is along the lines of "have the constituent components of this programme been implemented as the programme developers stipulated/intended".
Thanks for the interesting question and look forward to being shot down in flames for my ineptitude and naivety ;-)
best regards,
Craig Chambers
Part-time PhD, full time physio
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