Current and Emerging Ethical Challenges in Evaluation New Directions for Evaluation, Number 82

With recent developments in the evaluation field such as privatization and mandated outcome-focused evaluation, evaluators today face new and complex ethical challenges regarding stakeholders, the public good, and utility. This volume of New Directions for Evaluation explores how evaluators can avoid, reduce, or resolve the ethical conflicts that arise. The authors offer a cost-benefit approach to exploring the ethics of various research designs and make recommendations for achieving a balance between neutrality and advocacy. They shed light on the ethical challenges evaluators face when collaborating with foundations and communities; working in a culture different from their own; and determining the nature of stakeholder involvement.This is the 82nd issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Evaluation.

JODY L. FITZPATRICK is associate professor of public administration at the University Of Colorado. She maintains an active practice in evaluation and is interested in the ethical nuances of evaluator-client relations. She serves on the board of the American Evaluation Association and is working on a book of case studies for the association. MICHAEL MORRIS is professor of psychology and director of graduate field training in community psychology at the University of New Haven. He edits the column "Ethical Challenges" in the American Journal of Evaluation.