Indigenous Evaluation Framework: Research and Capacity Building

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One of the challenges facing the evaluation profession is how to responsively and ethically design and conduct technically sound and systematic evaluations of programs and projects whose aims are to serve indigenous people in cultures with non-Western traditions and who are strongly tied to traditional ways of life. This three-year mixed methods research project investigates the effectiveness and impact of the Indigenous Evaluation Framework (IEF) and its ancillary training activities and materials in addressing issues raised by efforts to design and conduct culturally responsive evaluations in tribal communities. The research and development project integrates a pre-post quasi-experimental design with an ethnographic qualitative research design to examine two overarching research questions: (1) To what extent does an Indigenous Evaluation Framework (IEF) provide a model for the evaluation of STEM programs that is responsive to the unique educational and cultural environments of tribally and federally chartered colleges and universities (TCUs) and tribal communities? (2) To what extent does using the essential elements of the IEF result in an evaluation design that (a) is integrated into the tribal/community setting; (b) assesses the contributions of the program or project in meeting funder and community defined elements of success and desired outcomes: and (c) forms a strong basis for stakeholder use of evaluation findings for both formative improvements and a summative assessment? In addition, the on-going investigation examines and informs the revision of the IEF and the training efforts and materials associated with the conceptualization and implementation of the IEF. This study by the nation's 37 American Indian tribally and federally chartered colleges and universities, which collectively are the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), examines the effectiveness and usefulness of the IEF to respond to both non-Western cultural traditions and social science methodologies and theories that are steeped in Western scientific traditions.