Truth, Beauty, and Justice: Conceptualizing House's Framework for Evaluation in Community‐Based Settings

Abstract

Abstract The goal of this chapter is to discuss House's theoretical framework of truth, beauty, and justice and its relationship to community‐based evaluation and programming. Within this chapter, each area of House's triad is addressed separately. To further illustrate these points, aspects such as community systems, credibility of information, multicultural validity, coherence in reporting, and social justice are discussed. Throughout this discussion, examples highlighting the author's work with community‐based evaluations, particularly in communities that are hard to reach, underserved, etc., are provided to ground these concepts in practice. Finally, the author poses questions about evaluation practice, validity, and social justice.