Recommendations for Further Research

While engaging with the literature, and carrying out this action research study, ideas for further research emerged. The ideas could be divided into ones that further the field of ECB, and those that enhance the evaluation practices of GMFRS. Starting with the literature related suggestions, it was found that the literature lacks empirically tested approaches (also identified by, Sanders 2002 and Cousins et al. 2004, Preskill and Boyle 2008), and very little is known about the organisational context of the ECB studies. More data about the context would allow comparisons between different models, and the examination of possible commonalities between approaches that had been developed for similar types of organisations. ECB is very context specific, hence a new model is created for each study, but an increase in the number of context studies would allow the identification and mapping of structures and approaches that suit certain types of organisations. This would be particularly beneficial at the practitioner level.

185 The field of ECB is relatively new, but the researcher believes that rather than purely developing new models, the field should also deepen its knowledge of the existing ones. Deeper knowledge also relates to the other idea for further research – evaluation of current approaches. It was observed during the literature review, that none of the current ECB approaches have been evaluated, which, again, raises questions about their impact and sustainability. There is a clear gap in the literature about the benefits of ECB to organisations, and how the evaluation practices have been maintained in the long run. The researcher believes all the ECB models, including this action research study, should be evaluated few years15 after the ECB effort to study the impact of both the ECB approach, and evaluation on the organisation, and an investigation of questions such as:

 do ECB approaches create systematic evaluation practice?;

 has the organisation witnessed an increase in the number and quality of evaluations after the ECB effort?;

 what has the organisation learnt from the ECB experience and the evaluations?; and

 has the ECB effort equipped an organisation to produce usable evaluation?

This would be very beneficial in the case of GMFRS as their expected outcomes for this research project were to develop an evaluation toolkit, and to embed evaluation and feedback into the organisations community initiative design process. To ensure the newly developed evaluation capacity is used to its full potential, the organisation needs to be proactive and evaluate the benefits of its evaluation capacity system.

15 _{Depending on the organisation}

186 The other ideas for further research relate to the organisation. During the literature review, it was identified that to strengthen evaluation practices beyond methods, collaborations with evaluation experts, and organisational arrangements, a deeper shift in the culture and mind-set is needed for evaluation practice to prosper (Milstein et al. 2002). This means that in order for GMFRS to fully benefit from the capacity to evaluate, and the actual evaluations, the organisation has to embed it into its culture which, ultimately, makes evaluation into a mainstreamed activity. Some approaches, to allow the GMFRS ECB to develop into an evaluation culture and ultimately to a mainstreamed evaluation practice, are identified by Porteous (1999) and Wandersman et al. (2003) and Cousins et al. (2004). Cousins et al. (2004), argue that it is achieved through sustained evaluative inquiry and, in particular, continued and routine use of evaluation findings and processes. When evaluation becomes integrated into the on-going activities within an organisation, it may become a learning system that fosters the development of shared values and understanding among organisation members (Cousins et al. 2004). Porteous (1999) and Wandersman et al. (2003), on the other hand argue for the use of Fetterman’s empowerment evaluation approach. Empowerment evaluation is “an evaluation approach that aims to increase the probability of achieving program success by (1) providing program stakeholders with tools for assessing the planning, implementation, and self- evaluation of their program, and (2) mainstreaming evaluation as part of the planning and management of the program/organization” (Wandersman et al. 2005:28). Empowerment evaluation is achieved by linking evaluation into capacity building and social justice (Fetterman and Wandersman 2007). Also useful are Sanders’ (2002:256) set of indicators to assess if evaluation has been mainstreamed within an organisation, something that GMFRS could use as goals for their efforts:

187  Someone asking “how are you going to evaluate this?”;

 Board members asking for evaluation findings for every program report;  Evaluation appearing on the agenda of every staff meeting;

 Buyers asking for evaluation data from every sales agent;

 Clients being asked for evaluation that is then taken seriously by staff members;  The CEO distributing a list of organizational values that includes continuous

evaluation;

 Orientation training for new employees that includes their role in evaluating services, policies, and products; and

 Using evaluation advocacy as a selection criteria when hiring new staff.

These indicators would ensure evaluation becomes an automatic consideration at every level of the organisation. The individual and organisational processes developed during this research project will ensure the organisation has the capacity to evaluate and the right process in place to support the evaluation activities. But in the future evaluation has to be brought to the fore front of organisational thinking that the capacity is developed into a learning system.