Indigenous Evaluation Framework: Research and Capacity Building

评估专业面临的挑战之一是如何对旨在服务于非西方传统文化中的土著人民并与传统生活方式紧密相连的方案和项目进行合理和系统的技术上合理和系统的评估。这一为期三年的混合方法研究项目调查了土著评价框架及其辅助培训活动和材料在解决因在部落社区设计和开展文化响应评价工作而提出的问题方面的效力和影响。该研究和开发项目将准实验设计与人种学定性研究设计相结合，以考察两个主要研究问题：(1)土著评估框架(IEF)在多大程度上为STEM项目的评估提供了一个模式，以响应部落和联邦特许学院和部落社区的独特教育和文化环境？(2)使用IEF的基本要素在多大程度上导致评估设计：(A)融入部落/社区环境；(B)评估计划或项目在满足资助者和社区定义的成功要素和预期结果方面的贡献：以及(C)为利益相关者将评估结果用于形成性改进和总结性评估奠定坚实的基础？此外，正在进行的调查还审查和通报了国际环境基金的修订情况，以及与国际环境基金的构想和实施有关的培训工作和材料。这项由美国37所印第安人部落和联邦特许的学院和大学共同组成的印第安人高等教育联盟(AIHEC)进行的这项研究，考察了IEF在回应植根于西方科学传统的非西方文化传统和社会科学方法和理论方面的有效性和有用性。

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.