Power in and of evaluation: A framework of analysis

Abstract

This article develops a framework for enhancing understanding and exploring both how power manifests in the evaluation process, and the power of evaluation in relation to public policy and democratic governance. Power is conceived as a multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon that manifests, permeates, and affects evaluation in many ways. The article demonstrates how the framework can be applied to an evaluation of a Swedish teacher-training program. The tentative analysis shows how the commissioner’s power-over the evaluators becomes evident when it cannot induce the evaluators to do what it wants them to do and manifests itself as constitutive power when, for example, helping shape the notion of what valid knowledge is. The power of the evaluation manifests itself as supporting key policy and governance functions.