2018-2019 Speaker Series

Jill Anne Chouinard, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Educational Research Methodology

A Discussion of Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation

March 20th, 2019 at 10:00-11:00 am, School of Education Building Rm. 401

We live in a dynamic cultural and political time, as the social, economic and political effects of neoliberal policies and globalization, ethnic and religious conflict, and environmental devastation continue to mount. Our epoch can be defined by transmigration of people and ideas, a shifting of borders and walls, a time where maps of our cultural, political and geographic landscape are being etched and redefined on an almost daily basis. As evaluators who work in applied social science in communities, schools and organizations across the globe, we cannot avoid the turbulent and unstable reality of this era. Implicit in our work as evaluators are numerous cultural and methodological assumptions concerning the purpose of evaluation, the role of evaluators, the values and principles of practice, the nature and limitations of the inquiry process and ongoing disputes regarding evidentiary standards. In this talk, Dr. Chouinard discusses her research on culturally responsive approaches to evaluation, and what it means to design and conduct an evaluation within this dynamic, unstable and shifting global context. The enduring question that weaves its way throughout her research is: What new methodological spaces can we create to enable a collective and ongoing pursuit of a more just and humane world for all?

Dr. Jill Chouinard’s main interests are in cross-cultural/culturally responsive approaches to research and evaluation, participatory research and evaluation, and evaluation and public policy. She has extensive experience working on evaluations at the community level in the areas of education and training, social services, health, and organizational learning and change. Much of her evaluation work has been conducted in First Nations and Inuit communities, as well as in other culturally and socially diverse community settings. She positions evaluation as a catalyst for learning, collaboration, social justice, and community change.