Co-Investigator Spotlight: Dr. Leslie Fierro

Has your background in biology, epidemiology and biostatistics been helpful in
some of the current positions that you hold and within the field of Evaluation?
“I think those degrees have helped me with thinking about measurement and really
understanding what high quality valid measures look like, and the nuances that come into play
around data collection. However, they have also created some challenges for me as an
evaluator. For instance, I'm not as inclined as some others in the profession to immediately
think about social justice and evaluation’s role in this, I’m not as inclined to think about how
people construct knowledge based upon their own realities. With biology and epidemiology,
there's this idea of one truth and one way: you get at this through systematic investigation, and
primarily quantitative data. So I think this heavy focus on using a technical lens was, in a sense,
embedded in me through my training – as a result, it became my go to.
Don’t get me wrong, methods are super important, and I keep that with me, but how do I
sensitize myself to making sure that my work is culturally responsive? That I'm looking for
inequities that are present? How do I make sure that I'm doing an evaluation where there's
enough engagement so that it's more likely that the findings are going to be used? So I think
that that's been a journey for me, and it continues to be a journey. I have to enhance my other
skill set very intentionally. And sometimes that can be by virtue of making sure that I'm working
with people who are more inclined to look at things from a social justice lens. So by coupling
myself with members on a team who have a “go to” that is a little bit different than mine, it
helps me to kind of build those muscles as well.”
Dr. Fierro’s research and practice focuses on evaluation capacity building. She has examined
evaluation education - specifically how individuals within the U.S. pursuing a master’s in public
health are trained in evaluation . She has also explored how to measure evaluation capacity in
organizations the evaluation marketplace, and, most recently, conducted research examining the
development and implementation of evaluation policies in U.S. government agencies.
Why is Evaluation important?
“I think evaluation can be a super effective
tool for learning. I understand that lots of
people view evaluation as an accountability
mechanism, and it's important to be
accountable. It's important to be accountable
for public funds… but I don't actually think
that's the best role for evaluation. I think the
best role and the most important role for
evaluation is helping people to learn from the
things that they do well, and the places where
they can improve. It just has so much power
in that space…”
An exercise Dr. Fierro conducts with her students
is to have them draw or find an image that
represents evaluation (from Russ-Eft & Preskill
(2004) Building Evaluation Capacity: 72 Activities
for Teaching and Training). Individuals often
choose images that focus on the measurement
aspect of evaluation, such as sitting in front of a
computer, a graph, a checklist or a ruler. They
view evaluation as this detached, highly technical
act that is quantitative in nature.