Theory-Practice Connections in Collaborative Approaches to Evaluation: A Systematic Review of Practice

Collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE) are evaluations where evaluators engage with program community members to coproduce evaluation knowledge. There has been much written about CAE theory and a plethora of empirical studies have been published. Yet little is known about the extent to which CAE practice corresponds with theory. This study is a systematic review of a set of 46 peer-reviewed studies of CAE practice published over the past 25 years. We draw from Cousins and Whitmore's descriptive theory of participatory evaluation to explore the extent to which and how the case examples reflect practical and transformative streams and how they map onto three fundamental process dimensions: control, diversity, and depth of participation. Results provide support for these descriptive theoretical propositions. We discuss their implications for the value and use of CAE evidence-based principles; ongoing research; CAE in government and international development sectors; and appreciation of reciprocal benefits.