Empirical investigation of an adapted fourth generation evaluation: The case of evaluating a secondary science teacher preparation program

Abstract

Empirical studies on how program evaluation theories are enacted in practice are scarce (Mark, 2008; Miller, 2010; Smith, 2010). Evaluation scholars need to understand the connection between the theory and practice of program evaluation models to enhance these models and defend their merit. This research employed a case study to examine how the theory underlying an adapted version of Guba and Lincoln's (1989) Fourth Generation Evaluation (4GE) model was enacted in the context of evaluating a secondary science teacher preparation program in one rural university in New South Wales, Australia. This study comprised two components, the second of which is directly informed by the first. The first component was a case study evaluation of the Graduate Diploma in Education for Science Teaching using an adapted version of the 4GE (A4GE). The second component was an investigation of the implementation of the evaluation model, which was carried out as component One, and an exploration of the relationship between the model's theory and its practice using an interpretive case study approach.