American Journal of Evaluation, Ahead of Print.
The term meta-evaluation—referring to the “evaluation of evaluations”—has been in the evaluation lexicon for a half-century. Despite this longevity, research on meta-evaluation is sparse and even more so for internal formative types of meta-evaluation. This exploratory study builds on our understanding of meta-evaluative methods by exploring evaluators’ approaches to ensuring quality practice. A sample of practitioners was drawn from the American Evaluation Association membership and invited to share their quality assurance practices through an online survey. Respondents reported using a variety of tools to ensure quality in their practice, including published and unpublished standards, principles and guidelines, and processes involving stakeholder engagement at various stages of evaluation. A distinction was identified between an intrinsic, merit-focused perspective on quality that is more or less controlled by the evaluator and an extrinsic, worth-focused perspective on quality primarily informed by key stakeholders of the evaluation.