Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Shiela A. Arens

NAME:
- Shiela A. Arens

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Education

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (2005)

ADVISORS:
- Ginette Delandshere

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Daniel J. Mueller
- Thomas A. Schwandt
- Peg Sutton

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: A study of evaluative reasoning in evaluative studies judged "outstanding"

Abstract: Questions about the centrality of evidence, the nature of evidence, and the warrant of evaluative claims have been a persistent feature of evaluation; more recently such conversations have dominated the social and political landscape, particularly with respect to so-called evidence-based movements. This thesis sought to understand how evaluators go about making and justifying claims through an examination of practice within the broader social and political landscape of inquiry. Using five "Outstanding" evaluation cases, I examined how evaluators justify claims, reason from their evidence to their assertions, and whether assertions were warranted. In other words, how are evaluative claims validated?

By and large, the cases followed a similar pattern in the structure used and the evidence presented. Moreover, they progressed similarly in how claims were made and justified. The preponderance of claims in the cases served a descriptive, causal function. Constituent claims were often connected to form synthetic, evaluative claims and these functioned to express the overall merit or worth of the evaluand. However, criteria on which claims were based were often ambiguous and qualifiers were often unspecified, resulting in an inability to adequately assess claims. Methodology (data collection and analysis) typically served as the warrant for constituent claims; however, synthetic claims, which rely on informal logic, inference, and extrapolation, did not use methodology as their warrant. Instead, these relied on evaluator authority and probative justification.

MPACT Scores for Shiela A. Arens

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-09-22 19:52:59

Advisors and Advisees Graph

generating graph, please reload

Students under Shiela A. Arens

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None