Critical Program Evaluation
Critical program evaluation is an approach to assessing programs that integrates critical theory with standard evaluation methods. It moves beyond measuring whether a program met its stated objectives to interrogating whose interests the program serves, how power and privilege shape its design and outcomes, and whether it advances or hinders equity and social justice. The approach draws on deliberative democratic evaluation (House and Howe) and the transformative paradigm (Mertens), treating evaluation as an inherently value-laden, politically situated practice.
Source record
Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.
- Mertens, D. M. (2009). Transformative Research and Evaluation. Guilford Press. · ISBN 978-1606230787
- House, E. R., & Howe, K. R. (1999). Values in Evaluation and Social Research. Sage Publications. · ISBN 978-0761912521
Curated claims
Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.
This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.
Related methods
Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.