Evaluation Theorist: Guba and Lincoln

Evaluation Theorist: Guba and Lincoln

Introduction

Guba and Lincoln are very effective theorists and are famous for their evaluation theories, both wrote many books together. Yvonna S. Lincoln is Professor of Higher Education and Educational Administration at Texas A & M University. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of several books, among them; Naturalistic Inquiry (1985) and Fourth Generation Evaluation (1989) (both with Egon G. Guba), and organizational theory and research. She Vice President, Division J (Postsecondary Education) of the American Educational Research Association, Dr. Lincoln was president of the Association for Assessment and received several awards. Egon G Guba was Born in 1924 and died in March 2008. He was Professor of Emeritus at School of Education, Indiana University, where he served for 23 years before his retirement in 1989. He received his doctorate in quantitative research of the Department of Education at the University of Chicago in 1952, widely hailed as the "Father of Evaluation. He made great contributions in qualitative research and evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate 6 books focusing on specific approaches of evaluation by Guba and Lincoln specifically focusing on key points of theorist's approach and comparing it with the concepts of other evaluators. In the end relevance of their theory with practice shall be described.

Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research

Four research paradigms are evaluated by Lincoln and Guba in Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research. These four paradigms are Post-positivism, constructivism, positivism, and critical theory. In the book “Competing Paradigms In Qualitative Research (1994)” Guba and Lincoln has emphasized on above mentioned paradigms, implications of those assumptions for research, and assumptions of those paradigms. A Paradigm is defined as a basic system of belief that directs the researcher and its researches. The authors in the book “Competing Paradigms In Qualitative Research (1994)” eceived view of knowledge, noted issues like value- laden and theory laden nature of facts and relationship between the object of inquiry and inquirer. They also began with critique of over quantification. All four paradigms were theory tested with regard to methodology (how can the researchers' beliefs be known or the inquirer go about finding out), epistemology (what is the nature of relationship between what can be known and knower), and ontology (what is the nature and form of reality). Comparison charts were used by authors to determine the distinction between paradigms. According to Guba and Lincoln (1994), the basic beliefs that define the research paradigms can be summarized by the answers to three basic questions: The assumptions that the researcher formula on the nature of reality (the ontological question)

Assumptions that formula on its relation to the object of study (the epistemological question)

The means it retains to analyze the real (the methodological issue)

Guba and Lincoln four paradigms can be analyze by comparing it with the Anglo-Saxon constructivism. Studies on the practices of evaluations for example Moldoveanu and Baum (2002), researchers show confusion between positivist and constructivist paradigms. Other studies question the consistency of the methods ...