The Program Evaluation Standards in International Settings

The Appropriateness of Joint Committee Standards in Non-Western Settings 47P1 Service Orientation. Korean evaluation projects may not serve the needs of the fullrange of target population. In most international evaluation projects, the central government orbusiness conglomerates oversee them. Since other independent research firms and their fundraising activities are not popular in Korea, evaluation projects are usually sponsored by thegovernment or business corporations' budgeting offices. The range of the audience is not verybroad, with top executives and internal staff members among the client group. Immediatestakeholders include the people whose work or business structure is being evaluated. In the caseof government projects, evaluation results reach the whole nation. It is unique for Koreans todeal with stakeholder groups in conducting any evaluation project. The ideal is to involvepotential stakeholder groups and strive to ascertain and accommodate their information needs.However, since the nation's or the group's interest is frequently more important, the individual'sor small stakeholder group's interest may not be significantly considered. Sometimes the lattermay be ignored completely. Only a small part of the stakeholder group, the immediatestakeholder, is considered in the evaluation design. Accordingly, the project focus is likely to bedetermined by the specific client group that supports and controls the project.F2 Political Viability. Even though Wholey (1981) made it clear that evaluation findingscan rarely change the power structure, but can promote something. However, in Korea, the utilityof project results can be more than that. Sometimes, the results of a project might be used forpolitical purposes which were not the intention at all in the beginning stages. Also, the successfulcompletion of an evaluation project can be thwarted in a political system where definition ismore a political exercise than a technical one, where radical ideas about solutions occur lessoften than minor variations in the status quo and where adopting successful solutions isdependent on practical ability and professional discretion as much as on efficacy. Therefore,"being a responsible evaluator" depends on excellent communication with the decision-makers.They are, in most cases, the top client group.A2 Context Analysis. It is hard for foreign evaluators to understand the sociopoliticalcontext of evaluation research and the political effects of an evaluation project. In a complicatedsociopolitical context, western evaluators should be sincere with clients who call for anevaluation project. As time goes by, they may be getting more familiar with the situationalcontext a certain evaluation project is involved in, as well as the political relationships amongdifferent stakeholders and clients while conducting a project with Korean staff members.However, they should first focus on who the top client is, and what their basic values are,because the project will be conducted under the top clients' direction. This means that the projectfocus is in the hands of the top clients. They will be the ones who support the project performedby western evaluators in terms of human and physical resources. For example, evaluators shouldask Korean clients to indicate any cultural and technical pitfalls, expectations, and potentialproblems before they start to work. While applying their expertise, they should continuously askclients for assistance. The internal staff members who work with western evaluators represent atop client group, while at the same time play roles as mediators between evaluators and clients,and reporters with western evaluators. They may or may not be immediate stakeholders.