Postgraduate Researchers in Science Medicine Conference 2005: Abstracts
The Real World of Realistic Evaluation
Karen Whittaker and Professor Sarah Cowley
For an evaluation to be realistic and to take account of the real entities in the world it needs to be theory driven. For Pawson and Tilley (1997) is about taking existing theory and hypothesising what the potential mechanisms and outcomes are within particular contexts. Then testing these to generate new understandings of how something works and for whom in what circumstances. Realistic evaluation therefore works within the primary tenets of realism, as outlined above, and identifies social organisations as social systems that are open and stratified. This approach to evaluation is particularly applicable to researching a complex community initiative, where multiple events exist, but are not always realised or experienced. The task of identifying underlying mechanisms that may or may not generate events, in differing contexts will move the research someway towards developing an understanding of how the initiative does or indeed possibly does not work. The poster presented explains an example of how realistic evaluation can be applied to the study of self-efficacy experiences when parents are accessing positive parenting services.
Karen Whittaker, School of Nursing, University of Central Lancashire, Greenbank Building, Preston PR1 2HE
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