The decision to deal with the topic of impact evaluation in social-educational contexts in the doctoral research – of which the main processes undertaken and the results achieved are presented in this paper – matured from two main instances: being increasingly requested by clients and funders and being the object of weak attention from a pedagogical perspective. In the text – after briefly describing the theoretical framework, the objectives, the questions and the hypotheses within which the research began – attention is focused on the methodological and procedural choices made to study and circumscribe impact evaluation in social-educational contexts. The “slippery” nature of the topic, together with the scarce theoretical material, has in fact urged us to integrate the framework by taking into consideration the empirical studies present. Specifically, a literature review of impact evaluation studies of educational projects/programs was conducted in which some aspects typical of systematic reviews were combined with others of meta-studies. The research processes of the former were used for the studies, that were aimed at systematicity, rigor and transparency. While the meta-studies, characterized by a highly reflective, recursive, and iterative approach to the processes involved in the primary studies, were the main anchor for the content analysis. Among the 65 studies selected in the ERIC database, the analysis of which is still in progress, we highlight some features: a strong heterogeneity and different levels of complexity of the evaluands; a variety of evaluation questions of both attributional and contributory character; a plurality of evaluation approaches including experimental, theory-based, participatory and mixed approaches.
La scelta di affrontare nella ricerca di dottorato il tema della valutazione di impatto nei contesti socio-educativi – di cui si presentano nel contributo i principali processi intrapresi e i risultati raggiunti – è maturata a partire da due principali istanze: l’essere sempre più richiesta da committenti e finanziatori e l’essere oggetto di debole attenzione in prospettiva pedagogica. Nel testo – dopo aver descritto sinteticamente il quadro teorico, gli obiettivi, gli interrogativi e le ipotesi entro i quali ha preso avvio la ricerca – è posta l’attenzione sulle scelte metodologico procedurali attuate per studiare e circoscrivere la valutazione di impatto nei contesti socio-educativi. La natura “scivolosa” del tema unita allo scarso materiale teorico ha infatti sollecitato ad integrare il quadro prendendo in considerazione gli studi empirici presenti. Nello specifico è stata condotta una literature review di studi di valutazione di impatto di progetti/programmi educativi nella quale sono stati combinati alcuni aspetti tipici delle systematic review con altri dei meta-study. Delle prime sono stati impiegati i processi di ricerca degli studi tesi alla sistematicità, al rigore e alla trasparenza mentre i meta-study, caratterizzati da un approccio fortemente riflessivo, ricorsivo e iterativo sui processi coinvolti negli studi primari, hanno costituito il principale ancoraggio per l’analisi contenutistica. Tra i 65 studi selezionati nel database ERIC, la cui analisi è tutt’ora in corso, si evidenzia: una forte eterogeneità e differenti livelli di complessità degli evaluandi; una varietà di domande valutative dal carattere sia attributivo, sia contributivo; una pluralità di approcci valutativi che comprende quelli sperimentali, quelli basati sulla teoria, quelli partecipativi e quelli misti.
Orizio, E., Valutare gli impatti dei programmi educativi: note metodologiche per un’analisi degli studi primari, <<Quaderni del Dottorato SIRD>>, 2021; (5): 280-297 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/214030]
Valutare gli impatti dei programmi educativi: note metodologiche per un’analisi degli studi primari
Orizio, Enrico
Primo
2021
Abstract
The decision to deal with the topic of impact evaluation in social-educational contexts in the doctoral research – of which the main processes undertaken and the results achieved are presented in this paper – matured from two main instances: being increasingly requested by clients and funders and being the object of weak attention from a pedagogical perspective. In the text – after briefly describing the theoretical framework, the objectives, the questions and the hypotheses within which the research began – attention is focused on the methodological and procedural choices made to study and circumscribe impact evaluation in social-educational contexts. The “slippery” nature of the topic, together with the scarce theoretical material, has in fact urged us to integrate the framework by taking into consideration the empirical studies present. Specifically, a literature review of impact evaluation studies of educational projects/programs was conducted in which some aspects typical of systematic reviews were combined with others of meta-studies. The research processes of the former were used for the studies, that were aimed at systematicity, rigor and transparency. While the meta-studies, characterized by a highly reflective, recursive, and iterative approach to the processes involved in the primary studies, were the main anchor for the content analysis. Among the 65 studies selected in the ERIC database, the analysis of which is still in progress, we highlight some features: a strong heterogeneity and different levels of complexity of the evaluands; a variety of evaluation questions of both attributional and contributory character; a plurality of evaluation approaches including experimental, theory-based, participatory and mixed approaches.
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