Evaluator as Technician versus Evaluator as Change Agent: A Continuum of Power Relationships

This paper presents a classification and critique of evaluator roles, and discusses the power relationships in which the evaluator engages and the power and influence strategies available to the evaluator within each type of role. The paper describes an evaluator role continuum, from "evaluator as technician" to "evaluator as change agent." At one pole of the continuum, the evaluator is portrayed as an "illuminator" fulfilling the technical functions of information gathering and reporting for the party commissioning the evaluation. As the evaluator role shifts from this pole, the evaluator fulfills the additional functions of interpreting information, describing the social-political context of the evaluation, and identifying and advocating alternative courses of action. At this opposite pole of the continuum, the evaluator is portrayed as a change agent, actively participating in the planned change process. This role continuum brings together under the unifying theme of power relationships these and other depictions of the evaluator role which have appeared in the evaluation literature. (Author)