Maria Ponto
Kingston University, UK
Title: Trials and tribulations of commissioned evaluation research
Biography
Biography: Maria Ponto
Abstract
This presentation will discuss potential and actual problems that may occur when carrying out commissioned research. For instance if the commissioned research is from an organisation that anticipates finding positive evidence for changes or interventions they introduced, this can create conflict if data do not show this. Sometimes access to the sample is through the organisation and the researcher has no control over data collection or methods for data collection. This can create anxiety for the researcher and may compromise their objectivity. The presentation will also discuss how to deal with such problems and will provide examples of strategies that can be used to maintain empirical rigor whilst fulfilling commissioned obligations.