Toward the Development of Reporting Standards for Evaluations

Abstract

This article first makes a case for the need to establish evaluation reporting standards, support for which is rooted in the growing demand for professionalization, in the growing metaevaluation literature, and in growing efforts to develop reporting standards for inquiry efforts. Then, a case is made for a particular set of such standards introduced in this article—the CHecklist for Evaluation-Specific Standards (CHESS). In doing so, this article outlines the process used and presents the resulting checklist and associated standards, which are defined as the minimum, evaluation-specific elements that must be reported to make judgments about the quality of the evaluation. This article also describes a few of the categories to offer illustrative information to help readers better understand and consider the usefulness of the proposed checklist. A discussion of CHESS, including challenges and next steps, is also included.