This article examines how environmental educators evaluate their projects. Little research has been conducted into practices of evaluation, including who is evaluating, why they are evaluating, and the methods they use.
Questionnaires and discussion groups with a convenience sample of UK-based practitioners were used to uncover their evaluation methods. Although many report that they are evaluating regularly, this is mainly monitoring numbers of participants or an assessment of enjoyment. There may be a difference between practitioners’ and evaluation experts’ understandings of what constitutes evaluation, with many practitioners appearing to see “data collection” and “evaluation” as synonymous. In addition, evaluators would not consider many of the methods used for data collection appropriate. More robust methods for collecting data and longer-term evaluations are often impractical for environmental educators to conduct themselves, and mechanisms are suggested for improving interaction between practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, which could enhance evaluation practice.
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