AEA Guiding Principles for Evaluators Long Form
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AMERICAN EVALUATION ASSOCIATION
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR EVALUATORS
Revisions reflected herein ratified by the AEA membership, July 2004
Preface: Assumptions Concerning Development of Principles
A. Evaluation is a profession composed of persons with varying interests, potentially encompassing but not
limited to the evaluation of programs, products, personnel, policy, performance, proposals, technology,
research, theory, and even of evaluation itself. These principles are broadly intended to cover all kinds of
evaluation. For external evaluations of public programs, they nearly always apply. However, it is impossible to
write guiding principles that neatly fit every context in which evaluators work, and some evaluators will work in
contexts in which following a guideline cannot be done for good reason. The Guiding Principles are not intended
to constrain such evaluators when this is the case. However, such exceptions should be made for good reason
(e.g., legal prohibitions against releasing information to stakeholders), and evaluators who find themselves in
such contexts should consult colleagues about how to proceed.
B. Based on differences in training, experience, and work settings, the profession of evaluation encompasses
diverse perceptions about the primary purpose of evaluation. These include but are not limited to the following:
bettering products, personnel, programs, organizations, governments, consumers and the public interest;
contributing to informed decision making and more enlightened change; precipitating needed change;
empowering all stakeholders by collecting data from them and engaging them in the evaluation process; and
experiencing the excitement of new insights. Despite that diversity, the common ground is that evaluators
aspire to construct and provide the best possible information that might bear on the value of whatever is being
evaluated. The principles are intended to foster that primary aim.
C. The principles are intended to guide the professional practice of evaluators, and to inform evaluation clients
and the general public about the principles they can expect to be upheld by professional evaluators. Of course,
no statement of principles can anticipate all situations that arise in the practice of evaluation. However,
principles are not just guidelines for reaction when something goes wrong or when a dilemma is found. Rather,
principles should proactively guide the behaviors of professionals in everyday practice.
D. The purpose of documenting guiding principles is to foster continuing development of the profession of
evaluation, and the socialization of its members. The principles are meant to stimulate discussion about the
proper practice and use of evaluation among members of the profession, sponsors of evaluation, and others
interested in evaluation.
E. The five principles proposed in this document are not independent, but overlap in many ways. Conversely,
sometimes these principles will conflict, so that evaluators will have to choose among them. At such times
evaluators must use their own values and knowledge of the setting to determine the appropriate response.
Whenever a course of action is unclear, evaluators should solicit the advice of fellow evaluators about how to
resolve the problem before deciding how to proceed.
F. These principles are intended to supercede any previous work on standards, principles, or ethics adopted by
AEA or its two predecessor organizations, the Evaluation Research Society and the Evaluation Network. These
principles are the official position of AEA on these matters.
G. These principles are not intended to replace standards supported by evaluators or by the other disciplines in
which evaluators participate.