Last week a call for evaluators for the project Hypatia (see http://www.ecsite.eu/sites/default/files/hypatia_call_for_evaluator.pdf) was published on this list. The project in question aims at bringing lasting change in the way schools, science museums, research institutions and industry engage teenage girls in STEM across Europe.
After reading the call for evaluators, I was quite concerned about the value that evaluation is given in projects like this one.
The expectations of the evaluation study are very, very high; the amount of work requested is daunting (site visit, interviews and surveys with multiple stakeholders and target audiences, analysis of additional documents, and production of 4 written reports); all this for a big European project (14 partners, 1.5 million euro budget).
An ambitious 3 year evaluation study paid €8.000 (£5.800) - or 0.5% of the project budget.
I wonder what level of quality can be expected with this approach, and I wonder if it is ethically correct to downplay both the significance of the evaluation (by giving it so limited resources within the project), and the professional standards of those who are active in the field (with a remuneration which is arguably insufficient to cover the full requirements of the call).
The report "Evaluating Evaluation” by Maurice Davies and Christian Heath highlighted the disappointment in noticing how evaluation is seen as a necessary chore but remains marginal to the work of museums, leading to negative consequences for museums, policy makers and funders. In my opinion, a call like this one does not help to make evaluation more relevant, alas.
I would be interested to hear what other colleagues think about this.
Thank you,
Andrea.
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