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The mediating effect of participation and process outcomes on evaluation use in British Columbia School Accreditation Turnbull, Barbara

Abstract

The term participatory evaluation is commonly understood as stakeholder involvement in evaluation decision making and is generally accepted as a means of increasing the use of evaluation information. In spite of the popularity of participatory evaluation, there are few empirical studies which explain the casual processes of the participation-use relationship and few theories of participatory evaluation. Furthermore, it is not yet known what variables mediate participation and use, or what evaluation methodology best identifies these variables. This dissertation was designed to test causal relations between participation and use in a proposed model of participatory evaluation. The constructs in the model were Participative Climate, Level of Participation in Decision Making, Influence in Participative Decision Making, Process Outcomes, and Instrumental and Symbolic Use. An intervening mechanism design (Chen, 1990) was used to test the hypotheses that (a) Participative Climate, Level of Participation in Decision Making, and Influence in Participative Decision Making predict Process Outcomes and (b) Process Outcomes predicts Instrumental Use and Symbolic Use. The sample included 315 elementary and secondary teachers who participated in the 1995/1996 British Columbia (B.C.) School Accreditation Program, which is a participative school evaluation program sponsored by the B.C. Ministry of Education. Structural equation modeling was used to test the fit of the model. Overall, the analysis indicated that both hypotheses were tenable and the model was a plausible representation of the data. Furthermore, cross-validation strategies indicated that the model would likely replicate in other independent samples. Specifically, the findings indicated that (a) teacher participation in pre-evaluation decisions, (b) influence in decision making, and (c) teacher perception of the participative process mediated the relationship between Participative Climate and Use of evaluation information. Moreover, teacher perceptions of Process Outcomes is a key factor in understanding the nature and function of participatory evaluation. The model tested in this study provides an empirically based explanation of how participatory evaluation can be expected to work and thereby provides a basis for further development of a theory of participatory evaluation.

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