Qualitative Analysis In Evaluation Research: Problems And Promises Of An Interactionist Approach*

Since the relatively recent advent of evaluation research, researchers have overwhelmingly advocated the use of experimental designs over other methodological approaches. However, implementing such designs produces an interaction effect which greatly alters the nature of programs being evaluated. As an alternative to experimental designs, an interactionist approach to evaluation research is introduced and developed, both conceptually and procedurally. The advantages of a phenomenological skepticism, which is epistemologically integral to an interactionist approach, over an experimentalist's naive or common sense skepticism, is discussed. Stages and methodological problems of carrying out an interactionist approach are explicated. It is argued that the implementation of an interactionist approach would be “nonreactive” with either the structure or functioning of a program under analysis. And it would simultaneously bring into relief much of the anxiety and distrust between researchers and those being evaluated that characteristically accompanies the application of experimental designs.