How should an evaluation plan be organized: Stakeholders

The Stakeholders section of the evaluation plan describes the primary and secondary audiences or consumers of the evaluation. Patton (1997) recommends the use of the term “stakeholders ” to designate evaluation audiences, and we have adopted it within this Guide. Patton wrote “…stakeholders typically have diverse and often competing interests” (p. 42). Competing interests in an evaluation should not be obscured, and therefore, you are advised to share information about an evaluation with as many stakeholders as is technically possible and politically feasible.

Primary stakeholders include the people most directly involved in or affected by an evaluation, e.g., representatives of the agencies that funded the digital library, its developers, and its intended patrons. Secondary stakeholders encompass any people who may have an interest in the evaluation or who have a right to know about its methods and results, e.g., students who might be expected to learn using resources located through a digital library. Which stakeholders will receive evaluation plans and reports may even become a major focus for negotiation between you and your clients, i.e., the people paying for or commissioning the evaluation. This is especially likely when the results of an evaluation are expected to inform hard decisions about how resources should be allocated. Here is a brief example of a Stakeholders section:

The Stakeholders section should answer the following questions:

• Who are the primary stakeholders for this evaluation?
• Who are the secondary stakeholders for this evaluation?
• Who is responsible for evaluation planning and implementation?