Research on evaluation ethics: What have we learned and why is it important?

Although empirical research on evaluation ethics is not plentiful, several important findings have emerged. These include an apparent lack of consensus within the field concerning what constitutes an ethical issue, the frequent occurrence of ethical problems during the later stages of evaluation projects, and the perceived ethical significance of the tendency for evaluators to be more responsive to some stakeholders than others. The author discusses the need to incorporate research questions on ethics into ongoing evaluation projects and to assess systematically evaluators' perceptions of AEA's Guiding Principles.