jill Chouinard & Fiona Cram 
Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation 
Empirical Implications for Theory and Practice

Evaluators have always worked in diverse communities, and the programs they evaluate are designed to address often intractable socio-political and economic issues. Evaluations that explicitly aim to be more responsive to culture and cultural context are, however, a more recent phenomenon. In this book, Jill Anne Chouinard and Fiona Cram utilize a conceptual framework that foregrounds culture in social inquiry, and then uses that framework to analyze empirical studies across three distinct cultural domains of evaluation practice (Western, Indigenous and international development). 
Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation provide a comparative analysis of these studies and discuss lessons drawn from them in order to help evaluators extend their current thinking and practice. They conclude with an agenda for future research.

Table of Content

List of Appendices, Figures, Tables

About the Authors

Volume Editors’ Introduction

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 • Introduction

Overall Background to Book

Social Inquiry as a Cultural Product

This Book

Chapter 2 • A Conceptual Framework for Inquiry

Defining Culture

Dimensions of Culture and Cultural Context

Chapter 3 • Methodology and Descriptive Overview of Selected Studies

Description of Studies

Sample Characteristics

Strategy for Analysis

Limitations

Chapter 4 • The Indigenous Context

Overview of Chapter

Description of Sample

Review and Integration of Selected Studies

Critical Discussion and Implications for Practice

Chapter Summary

Extending Inquiry

Chapter 5 • The Western/North American Context

Overview of Chapter

Description of Sample

Review and Integration of Selected Studies

Discussion and Implications

Critical Discussion and Implications for Practice

Chapter Summary

Extending Inquiry

Chapter 6 • The International Development Context

Overview of the Chapter

The International Development Context in Evaluation

Description of Sample

Review and Integration of Selected Studies

Critical Discussion and Implications for Practice

Chapter Summary

Extending Inquiry

Chapter 7 • A Discussion of the Conceptual Framework Across Domains of Practice

The Epistemological Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Ecological Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Methodological Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Political Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Personal Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Relational Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Institutional Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Axiological Dimension of Cultural Practice

The Ontological Dimension of Cultural Practice

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 8 • Concluding Thoughts

References

Appendices

Index

About the author

Fiona Cram founded Katoa Ltd in 2003, an indigenous research organisation that undertakes kaupapa Māori (by, for and with the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) research, evaluation and training. Before establishing Katoa Ltd, she was a Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the International Research Institute for Māori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland She is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association journal ‘Evaluation Matters – He Take To Te Aromatawai’, published by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and has also co-edited a number of research books. She has undertaken projects for a number of organisations, including Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry of Māori Affairs), the Ministry of Health, and Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc. Dr Cram’s project work, publications and conference presentations on kaupapa Māori have made significant contribtions to indigenous research and evaluation both in New Zealand and within the international community.