Sandra Ayoo

T e professionalization of evaluation means dif erent things to dif erent people, and as a result, the f eld lacks a clear understanding of how to empirically assess evaluator professionalism. T is exploratory study used a sociological model to study the behaviours of practicing evaluators in Canada and the United States using f ve concepts: expertise, ethical disposition, professional autonomy, innovation and research, and credentialing. Results from 27 in-depth interviews and a survey of 456 respondents demonstrated that, depending on their demographic characteristics, perceptions of professionalism dif ered between evaluators in the two countries. T e study determined that theory-based sociological models can provide insights into the professionalization of program evaluation.

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2020. Major: Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Advisor: Jean King. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 331 pages.Professionalization of evaluation means different things to different people across the globe. This study explored the professionalization of program evaluation in Canada and the United States of America (US) using sociological models of professionalism as the guiding framework for assessing the level of maturity of program evaluation as a field of professional practice. Five concepts identified by the model were used to develop a professionalism assessment tool for program evaluators (PAToPE) to measure the behavioral attributes of professionalism: professional autonomy, expertise, ethical dispositions, innovation and research, and credentialing. Data for the study were collected using a sequential mixed-methods approach starting with interviews of 27 evaluators and a test of the measurement instrument in an online survey to a random sample of 1,000 American Evaluation Association (AEA) members and 573 Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) members from the 2017 membership directory. The results of the study suggest that credentialing is the major difference between Canada and the US and that Canada is perceived to be more advanced in the professionalization of evaluation than the US. The empirical information also suggests that program evaluators demonstrate professionalism differently by country, place of work, gender, credentialed evaluator status, level of skills, level of education, age, and years of evaluation practice. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for professional associations, evaluation practice, and future studies