Unpacking the Participatory Process

Interest in collaborative forms of inquiry has increased in recent years in evaluation and social science research. One consequence of such interest has been the emergence of many different forms or genres of collaborative inquiry, such as stakeholder-based evaluation, deliberative democratic evaluation, practical participatory evaluation, transformative participatory evaluation, empowerment evaluation, and the like. In order to ensure clarity of purpose and application, it is necessary to differentiate among such approaches. 

This paper draws on an earlier framework proposed by Cousins, Donohue and Bloom (1996) and developed by Cousins and Whitmore (1998), and describes enhancements to this framework. It then applies the framework to two separate case examples of practical participatory evaluation. The intention is to help clarify differences among versions of collaborative inquiry and thereby reduce confusion that may arise in discussions about, or applications of, such approaches.