Evaluating e-learning environments
Approaches to evaluation
Evaluation approaches refer to broad, overarching perspectives on the data gathering process. They encompass the most general groups or "camps", although, at its best, evaluation work borrows eclectically from the perspectives of all these camps.
Each one of the approaches has its unique strengths and brings to the evaluation process a unique set of data and consequent enlightenment. Most experienced evaluators are familiar with all the major approaches and adopt elements from each one, as the need arises.
No single evaluation can be all things to all people just as no single evaluation can answer all stakeholders' concerns to the same degree.
Major approaches to evaluation
Scientific-experimental approach
Probably the most historically dominant evaluation strategies in use.
Deriving their values and methods from the pure and the social sciences,
they focus on the need for objectivity in their methods, reliability,
and validity of the information and data that is generated. Most
prominent examples of the scientific-experimental models of evaluation
are the various types of experimental and quasi-experimental approaches
to data gathering (Campbell & Stanley, 1963).
Qualitative/anthropological approach
Emphasize the importance of observation, the need to retain the phenomenological
quality of the evaluation context, and the value of subjective human
interpretation in the evaluation process. Included in this category
are the various approaches known in evaluation as naturalistic inquiry,
which is based on the grounded theory approach (Lincoln, & Guba,
1985).
Participant-oriented approach
Emphasize the importance of the participants in the process, especially
the clients and users of the program or technology. User and utilization-focused,
client-centered, and stakeholder-based approaches are examples of participant-oriented
models of evaluation (Patton, 1986). A basic tenet of utilization-focused
evaluation is that one must prioritize intended users, uses, and evaluation
purposes.