Evaluation Theory is Who We Are

Abstract

All evaluators should know evaluation theory because it is central to our professional identity. It is what we talk about more than anything else, it seems to give rise to our most trenchant debates, it gives us the language we use for talking to ourselves and others, and perhaps most important, it is what makes us different from other professions. Especially in the latter regard, it is in our own self-interest to be explicit about this message, and to make evaluation theory the very heart of our identity. Every profession needs a unique knowledge base. For us, evaluation theory is that knowledge base.