Week 4: Evaluation paradigms and models

Image: Bedouin Jerry Can Band by Michael Flynn and the Taranaki Daily News

You can blame the lateness of this post on my pilgrimage to Womad. I see there has been a lot of action on your blogs while I was away, so tomorrow I will post a summary of week three activity. This week is probably the driest one with regard to evaluation theory. You do need to have an understanding about the main inquiry paradigms and models which currently influence evaluation. If you can see it as a set of terms regarding current beliefs about how evaluation is done, things will seem easier, though there are some very long terms to get your larynx around. There is no need to memorise the terms though as I will certainly not be testing you. Hopefully you will get this posting as an email.

Things to do:

• Attend the optional fortnightly class meeting on Thursday 19 March 2009 - 7 to 8pm (NZST, +12hrs GMT)- web conference. This will be a discussion about quality and eLearning Guidelines and will be recorded.
• Read the article on paradigms by Professor Tom Reeves.
• Look at some information about ten different evaluation models.
• Compare two different models in an article about evaluation models by Bronwyn Hegarty, 2003.

Week four: Evaluation paradigms and models

Over the next two weeks we will be examining the different paradigms of evaluation so you will be able to decide on a theoretical umbrella under which your evaluation will sit. The design of your evaluation project will be based on a model which will determine the methods you will use to collect data.

Firstly , ask yourself whether you are interested in rich, descriptive information, or do you prefer to "crunch numbers"? Do you want to find out how people are rating certain features of your new eLearning system? Or do you want to find out how they are using something by hearing about it in their own words?

For example, under the analytic-empirical-quantitative paradigm, you would use an experimental model and quantitative methods e.g surveys (Likert-type scales) to collect numerical data. Whereas under a constructivist-hermeneutic-interpretivist-qualitative paradigm, you would select a constructivist (Guba and Lincoln or Pattons) model and collect descriptive data, using methods such as interviews and focus groups or content analysis of documents to gather data.

It is best not to get hung up on the big words. Read through the material and ask for clarification on the course blog if unclear about anything.