WEBINAR: ‘Practical Wisdom for Evaluative Practice’ Facing Ethical Dilemmas

Programme evaluation has established itself as a discipline with its own theoretical foundations, methodology, codes of conduct (standards) and ethical guidelines.  Nevertheless, evaluators are often confronted with ethical issues which require careful and nuanced decision-making which does not always have a ready-made answer.

Professionals from various fields – mainly in the health and management fields – are increasingly turning to a classic virtue to help them manage and resolve these complex situations: practical wisdom.

In this webinar, we will briefly review the challenges faced by professional evaluators, distinguish between deontology and ethics, and introduce the concept of practical wisdom. This concept will then be elaborated: What is practical wisdom? What is its contribution to evaluation? What are possible ways to develop it?​

Marthe Hurteau is a Professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and a credentialed Evaluator (CE) of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). She is the winner of the 2012 Société Québécoise en Évaluation de Programme (SQEP) and the 2019 Canadian Evaluation Society (SCE) awards for her contribution to evaluation. She has published several scientific articles as well as books: L’évaluation de programme axée sur le jugement crédible (2012); L’évaluation de programme axée sur la rencontre des acteurs. Une sagesse pratique (2018). And the latest: Practical Wisdom for an Ethical practice in Evaluation (2022).

Jessica Ozan, Phd, is Head of Education, Children and Families at Ipsos, UK. She is a Council Member of UK Evaluation Society and The Society’s lead on ethics in evaluation.

Open to All