Evaluator as Steward of Citizen Deliberation

Abstract

I suggest that evaluators have much to offer in being stewards of citizen deliberation during the conduct of evaluative inquiry, especially in regards to the professional community’s guiding principle of “Responsibility to the general and public welfare.” The deliberative forum is reviewed as one evaluation methodology for bringing the theory of deliberative democratic evaluation into practice. The paper offers a number of reflections from the field based on my experiences of adopting a stewardship role during my evaluation practice. These include: (1) working with the tacit program culture, (2) consciousness of risk, (3) creating dissonance, (4) the role of coaching, and (5) sustaining deliberation in program communities. Examples are offered in thinking about constructing deliberative forums throughout evaluation processes in practical contexts. The paper positions evaluation practice as an important mechanism for contributing toward a civil society and asks evaluators to consider their role in being stewards of citizen deliberation.