Skip to main content
Article
Goal-free evaluation: A potential model for the evaluation of social work programs
Social Work Reserach (2013)
  • Brandon W. Youker, Ph.D, Grand Valley State University
Abstract

Goal-free evaluation (GFE) is an evaluation model where the evaluator is deliberately kept from the stated (or implied) goals and objectives of the program; this is accomplished by appointing a screener to keep goal-related information from the goal-free evaluator. Screening the evaluator from program goals is designed to control bias inherent in goal-based evaluation (GBE), a bias that contaminates the evaluator’s ability to see the program’s true outcomes and true merit. Although GFE has been around for more than half a century, GBE continues to dominate evaluation practice and the literature on GFE remains sparse and highly theoretical. This article introduces social workers to GFE, provides a brief history of the model, discusses some of the theoretical arguments for and against it, and then attempts to articulate actual principles and operations for conducting a GFE.

Keywords
  • evaluate,
  • evaluation,
  • goal-free,
  • goal-based,
  • goal,
  • consumer,
  • social work,
  • program
Publication Date
2013
Citation Information
Brandon W. Youker. "Goal-free evaluation: A potential model for the evaluation of social work programs" Social Work Reserach Vol. 37 Iss. 4 (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/brandon_youker/1/