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Expert Lecture American Evaluation Association 2013

Friday, October 18th, 1:45-2:30pm

“Reflective practice is more than spending ten minutes at the end of an evaluation congratulating oneself on getting the damn thing done.”

-- Patton, 2012, p. 401

“Insights and innovation await us only if we are capable of stepping outside the frenzied worlds of data and distraction that wash over us… time for reflection is an open invitation to discover what awaits us…”

-- Forrester, 2011, pp. 216-217

ABSTRACT

Reflective practice (RP) is one of six essential competencies in evaluation identified and discussed by Stevhan, King, Ghere, and Minnema (2005). RP refers to thinking critically about one's professional actions, alone or with other people, and using critical insights to take steps toward improving one's evaluation practice. Evaluators, at best, have minimal guidance in navigating the competency in RP that is professed to be a necessary part of evaluation practice. This paper focuses on how RP can serve as a tool for evaluators, specifically through the use of an integrated RP framework, "DATA," developed by Peters (1991; 2009). Specifically, the “D” step of the acronym focuses on (D)escribing what is or has been happening in practice. The “A” step refers to (A)nalyzing the current state of practice – why is this happening the way it is? The “T” concentrates on a practice-oriented form of (T)heorizing, which comes from the analysis and serves as a framework for taking action. Finally, the last “A” focuses on the specifics of an (A)ction plan to change evaluation practice in light of a practical theory. We discuss an example of how DATA works in practice.

AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Tiffany Smith: tsmith92@utk.edu John Peters: jpeters@utk.edu Gary Skolits: gskolits@utk.edu Patrick Barlow: pbarlow1@utk.edu Institute for Reflective Practice: irp@utk.edu

DEMYSTIFYING REFLECTIVE PRACTICE: USING THE DATA MODEL TO ENHANCE EVALUATORS’ PROFESSIONAL

ACTIVITIES

Tiffany L. Smith, John M. Peters, Gary J. Skolits, & Patrick B. Barlow

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