Performance Evaluation: Proven Approaches for Improving Program and Organizational Performance

THE AMERICAN EVALUATION ASSOCIATION PRINCIPLES FOR EVALUATORS

The American Evaluation Association (AEA), perhaps the best recognized professional association for evaluators, was created in 1986 as a result of a merger between the Evaluation Network and the Evaluation Research Society. At the time, both entities supported the work of other organizations in the creation of evaluation guidelines, though they did not officially endorse any of them. Eventually it became apparent that guiding principles for evaluators were important, and in 1992, the AEA board created a task force to develop such principles. The following list of principles was offered in 1994 and revised in 2004 (American Evaluation Association, 2004):

• Systematic inquiry: Evaluators ...