Ethical conduct in evaluation
Ethical evaluation involves standards of conduct which promote integrity, honesty and respect in all dealings with program owners and evaluation participants and in the use of evaluation data from all sources. The standards apply to all aspects of evaluation design and conduct.
All evaluations should comply with seven key obligations:
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Evaluations should be designed to serve a specific need. To serve the need, the findings must be accurate and useful so they can guide the program owners to improve the processes and outcomes of the program.
Stakeholders should to be consulted throughout the evaluation to ensure that the purposes, activities and findings of the evaluation address the needs of all interested groups.
Consider the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaluation. The benefits of the evaluation must outweigh the costs involved in its implementation.
Ethical considerations should be anticipated and addressed during the design phase of the evaluation, and then managed during the course of the evaluation.
An evaluation team must be able to demonstrate that their evaluation was conducted ethically and be able to produce evidence to support this claim. This may include explaining how data collection methods were selected and implemented, who took part and how they were invited, and ways in which the data were analysed and reported.
External researchers wishing to undertake research in NSW government schools (for evaluation purposes or otherwise) should also refer to the State Education Research Applications Process (SERAP).
The advice on this page is consistent with the department’s Evaluation policy and framework and the NSW Government Program Evaluation Guidelines (2016).
Keep reading
- NSW Department of Education Evaluation Policy and Evaluation Framework
- NSW Department of Education Code of Conduct
External links
There are a number of external sources of guidance for conducting ethical evaluations.
- The department’s evaluation policy aligns with the requirements of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2015).
Issues in ethical evaluation are also outlined in publications of the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) and the (US) Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE). For further information refer to specific documents in the reference list below.
- Australasian Evaluation Society Inc. (AES). Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Evaluations (2013).
- Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). Principles and Guidelines for ethical research and evaluation in development (2017).
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2015).
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (2012).
- Department of Premier and Cabinet. NSW Government Program Evaluation Guidelines (2016).
- Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE). Program Evaluation Standards Statements.