“Pivoting, Priorities, & Possibilities: Evaluation in Turbulent Times”
As evaluators in today’s world, we have access to more tools, methods, and possibilities than ever before. And we need them. Because the needs, desires, and challenges we face are increasing and evolving.
Faced with public health crises, economic uncertainty, racial injustice, and conflicts around the world, we are continually asked to “prove” that interventions “work” in short periods of time with limited resources. While this may feel daunting at times, the confluence of challenges and possibilities provides us with opportunities to pivot to new approaches.
In the past, constant change and turbulence was viewed as something that evaluators needed to control for. We have traditionally been were taught to use narrow methods to limit or exclude things from our analyses so that we could better simplify causation and correlation. But the interconnectedness of the modern world has forced our profession to pivot. We need to continue to evolve our work so that it can more accurately reflect the current state of the messy and complicated world.
With our theme, we are challenging evaluators to think outside the box. We want to hear about how you have had to change your approaches and priorities. We want to hear about what you think is now possible in the field of evaluation. And we want to hear new ideas to embrace the continuing turbulence in the world.
The EERS annual conference is an opportunity for evaluators to grow in their professional practice. It provides the time and space for us to learn from the successes of others, develop new skills, strengthen understanding of evaluation methods, and gain perspectives on the interplay between theory and practice.
Note: Participants are required to sign-in to their Zoom accounts to register for the conference. If you do not have a Zoom account yet, you may sign up for a free account at https://zoom.us/SIGNUP.
