Aligning Cultural Responsiveness in Evaluation and Evaluation Capacity Building: A Needs Assessment with Family Support Programs

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dc.contributor.authorCook, Natalie E.en
dc.contributor.committeechairArchibald, Thomas G.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHarrison, Anthony Kwameen
dc.contributor.committeememberAnderson, James C.en
dc.contributor.departmentAgricultural and Extension Educationen
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-09T09:00:41Zen
dc.date.available2016-01-09T09:00:41Zen
dc.date.issued2016-01-08en
dc.description.abstractFamily support programs serve vulnerable families by providing various forms of support, such as education, health services, financial assistance, and referrals to community resources. A major feature of evaluation involves assessing program effectiveness and learning from evaluation findings (Mertens and Wilson, 2012). Collaboration and cultural responsiveness are important topics in evaluation which remain largely distinct in the literature. However, evaluation capacity building provides a context for exploring possible intersections. Data about seven programs were collected via semi-structured interviews and document analysis. This study revealed that the program leaders feel that their programs are unique, complex, and misunderstood. The findings also suggest that program leaders believe that evaluation is important for program improvement and funding. Although participants did not anticipate evaluation capacity building and did not readily express a desire to develop their own evaluation skills, participants from all seven programs enthusiastically expressed interest in evaluation capacity building once explained. Although participants did not discuss cultural responsiveness as it relates to race, they expressed a need to overcome a community culture of reluctance to participate in programs and aversion to educational pursuits. Given the programs' shared population of interest, similar outcomes, and common challenges, evaluation capacity building in a group setting may give Roanoke family support program leaders the evaluation knowledge, skills, and peer support to engage in program evaluation that is both collaborative and culturally responsive.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Science in Life Sciencesen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:7072en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/64424en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectprogram evaluationen
dc.subjectevaluation capacity buildingen
dc.subjectcultural responsivenessen
dc.subjectfamily supporten
dc.subjectCollaborationen
dc.subjectorganizational learningen
dc.titleAligning Cultural Responsiveness in Evaluation and Evaluation Capacity Building: A Needs Assessment with Family Support Programsen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineAgricultural and Extension Educationen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science in Life Sciencesen

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