Evaluation as Practical Hermeneutics

Abstract

This paper challenges the view that the 'general logic' or 'logic of evaluation' is foundational for understanding what it means to do 'good' evaluation. It attempts to show that the general logic is indexed to the modernist paradigm of reason and that evaluation practice can be alternatively indexed to the discourse of practical hermeneutics. The paper aims to advance our understanding of practical hermeneutics by explaining several of its salient assumptions. It offers several suggestions for redefining evaluation as a dialogical as opposed to a monological practice.