Making sense of equity: understanding equity in evaluation practice

Abstract

In recent years, the notion of equity has garnered attention worldwide; the topic has been discussed at local, global, and international levels, as well as in fields such as evaluation. However, the concept of equity lacks conceptual and practical clarity, and this could lead to differing interpretations. As a concept that can be viewed through disparate lenses, its meaning is often subject to interpretation. Evaluation theories, practices, and scholarship frame the concept of equity using different rationales and ideological underpinnings. The issue of equity encompasses the evaluation process, from the power, position, bias, and privilege of evaluators to the choice of methodology and outcomes. If equity considerations are to become a significant element of evaluation practice, something contemporary discourse suggests that evaluators desire, then the field must better understand the meaning of equity in practice. One framework for addressing this gap is by using a process called sensemaking. Using sensemaking theory, this dissertation examines how practitioners come to terms with what equity is and how equity is practiced as it interacts with identities, the environment in which programs exist, and the power structures that surround the evaluation process. It uncovers what happens to evaluation practice when practitioners pursue efforts to advance equity in evaluation through semi-structured interviews about how individual practitioners conceptualize equity, and how equity’s meaning has emerged through a process of labeling ideas and actions as “equity” in the evaluation process.