There was a recent flurry of activity on the Evaltalk listserv about the concept of stakeholders in evaluation, and how evaluators address stakeholder needs when planning an evaluation, and engage stakeholders in carrying out an evaluation.
Some consensus emerged among the evaluators that stakeholders are important, because (1) they can either sabotage or support your work; (2) understanding various interests can help you pose deeper questions; and (3) evaluation has an ultimate responsibility to promote a greater good, and responding to stakeholders is one way of doing so.
It’s important to analyze not just who the stakeholders are, but also what interests they share and where there might be a lot of disparate opinions or experiences.
