Preventing and managing Excessive Evaluation Anxiety: when technical skills are not enough

Program evaluation is a complex process that involves various methods and procedures as well as regular collaboration and contact with numerous stakeholders. Thus, it is not surprising when theoretical and/or technical skills show as insufficient to tackle numerous practical challenges the evaluation process might entail. The article Strategies for Managing Evaluation Anxiety: Toward a Psychology of Program Evaluation by Donaldson, Gooler and Scriven (2002), directly touches upon one of the common practical obstacles in the program evaluation i.e. Excessive Evaluation Anxiety (XEA). While many of us feel unease when being monitored or evaluated due to a fear of being critiqued, rejected or proclaimed inadequate, the authors show how such reactions by stakeholders, especially when excessive, can obstruct the quality and credibility of program evaluation. Explaining the symptoms and impacts of XEA, authors clearly show that theoretical and technical skills are not sufficient for a high-quality evaluation, but a different approach and methods might be necessary to understand and remedy its negative consequences.

This type of anxiety is explained as stakeholder’s affective, cognitive and/or behavioral response to evaluation that is disproportionate or excessive. It causes individuals to purposely obstruct the process of evaluation or prevents their meaningful participation. Authors describe signs of XEA such as: withdrawing from the evaluation, accusing evaluators of a hidden agenda, refusing to provide information crucial for the evaluation, purposefully staling the evaluation process, denying the evaluation results, obsessively hiding program weaknesses, and even directly showing anger towards evaluators. Since such behavior directly reduces the reliability of the evaluation and the utilization of its findings, it is crucial evaluators are aware of this challenge, as well as trained and prepared to manage it.

Therefore, the main contribution of this article are clear strategies and recommendations the authors provide in order to prevent and manage occasions in which Excessive Evaluation Anxiety appears. For instance, practical tips include identification of the potential causes of XEA that exist prior to the evaluation or that are caused by the evaluator’s behavior. This improves our understanding of the nature of the XEA and helps us to reflect upon its potential sources prior to the investigation. Moreover, article lists 17 practical strategies that any evaluator can find helpful in maintaining the negative effects of XEA. For instance, such strategies include building trust, addressing previous negative experiences with evaluation, identifying the purpose and consequences of the evaluation, creating a feedback channel etc.

Excessive Evaluation Anxiety is just one of various obstacles for meaningful evaluation that evaluators might encounter in their everyday work. These obstacles often require a use of practical skills that are usually developed primarily through personal experience and its exchange with other evaluators. In the end, it is apparent that different practical skills are often as important as technical skills for a credible and effective evaluation, where awareness and experience of these occurrences can be a strong asset for high quality evaluations.

Donaldson, Steward I., Laura E. Gooler, and Michael Scriven. “Strategies for Managing Evaluation Anxiety: Toward a Psychology of Program Evaluation.” American Journal of Evaluation 23, no. 3 (2002): 261–73.

Prepared by Petra Škokić