The Role of Context: A Synthesis of Empirical Research on Evaluation Context

Intentional synthesis of research findings is necessary to inform practice, particularly within the research on evaluation (RoE) literature. This study expands upon the work of Coryn et al. (2017) to synthesize the RoE studies pertaining to the domain of evaluation context. Findings from this study demonstrate that organization and program's size, stage, resources, and values/mission can all affect evaluation processes and outcomes. While ordinal dimensions often offer clues as to how the evaluation may be impacted, evaluators are advised to anticipate and explore the systemic role of values/mission throughout the other context domains and dimensions. The findings suggest the specific evaluation context descriptors in the organization and program dimension represent an opportunity for developing research informed practice based on RoE.