Step 10: Conducting a meta-evaluation
In the tenth step of the evaluation process, the evaluation itself can become the object of an evaluation. It should be a professional obligation to valuate the work done and to identify potential improvements for future evaluations (meta-evaluation).
A meta-evaluation is the systematic description and valuation of one or more evaluations. A meta-evaluation differs from an evaluation synthesis (which combines and valuates the findings of several evaluations of a mostly descriptive nature). A meta-evaluation should also not be confused with the method referred to as meta-analysis (which quantitatively compares or summarises quantitative findings of studies or evaluations based on similar questions).
Over the past 35 years or so, national and international professional associations have developed and adopted ‘evaluation standards’ for meta-evaluations. Evaluation standards specify the requirements that evaluations must meet in order to satisfy quality criteria. In contrast to the minimum or mandatory quality management standards, these ‘evaluation standards’ are target standards. This means that they describe an ideal state to be striven for, which an evaluation should reflect in order to be considered of high merit or worth.
Evaluation standards can be used as planning tools and checklists or as valuation grids to determine whether all tasks in the evaluation process have been professionally planned and executed.
Completion of the meta-evaluation closes the evaluation cycle, which will start again at a later stage either for the same or a different object of evaluation, as needed.