Approaches to incorporating equity into program evaluation: A scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Program Evaluation
• Social Justice Studies

Background:

• Traditional program evaluation methods can perpetuate systemic oppression.
• The field of program evaluation is increasingly focused on social justice and equity.
• Established equity-focused approaches include decolonial and culturally responsive evaluation, with emerging methods like equitable evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of literature on equitable evaluation and other equity-advancing evaluation approaches.
• To identify common themes and guiding principles for advancing equity in program evaluation processes and outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review of 42 English academic and grey literature sources.
• Literature included equity-focused frameworks such as equitable, culturally responsive, anti-racist, decolonial, and Indigenous evaluation.

Main Results:

• Seven common themes for advancing equity in evaluation were identified.
• These themes include: consideration of context, engaging program partners, adapting methods, strengths-based focus, self-reflection, addressing power imbalances, and participatory methods.

Conclusions:

• The identified themes provide guiding principles for implementing equity-focused evaluation practices.
• These principles can help advance social justice within the field of program evaluation.
• Further research and discussion are needed on future directions for promoting social justice in evaluation.