ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND EVALUATION STANDARDS Do They Match?

This study asked three questions: (a) What ethical principles are available to guide program evaluators? (b) how do the standards developed by the Joint Committee on Standards match up with ethical principles? and (c) what are the implications for refinement of the standards, training evaluators, and practicing evaluation? Kitchener’s five ethical principles: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity appear to have relevance for evaluation practice. Although consumers and novices were less likely to reach consensus than were experts, professional evaluators reached consensus in matching the standards to the ethical principles. The results also indicate not all of the Kitchener’s principles are fully represented in the standards. he evaluation standards developed by the Joint Committee onA Standards for Educational Evaluation (1981) provide guidelines for evaluators and consumers of evaluations. Considering the relative infancy of the evaluation field, the development of standards for practice represents a significant step forward in the professionalization of evaluation (Worthen and Sanders 1991). Standards for practice, however, are not synonymous with ethical codes or principles. Just one section of the standards, &dquo;propriety,&dquo; relates specifically to ethical concerns. The other sections: &dquo;utility,&dquo; &dquo;feasi-bility,&dquo; and &dquo;accuracy&dquo; contain standards relating primarily indirectly to ethical practice. As presented, the propriety and other standards are guide-lines rather than principles. They present what is appropriate for specific situations rather than overarching guidelines or principles as to what i