Tackling child poverty pathfinders: evaluability assessment

What ethical framework should guide an evaluation?

Given the sensitivity of the topic area and vulnerability of families in poverty, the ethical considerations around research and evaluation are important drivers for how programmes are evaluated. During one of our evaluability workshops, we jointly developed an ethical framework that can guide decisions on the design and implementation of an evaluation. We then further developed and refined this into a final framework, the key aspects of which are summarised below.

• Managing disclosures made by families during field research
• Minimising harm to research participants
• Managing identification of fraud or illegal activity through field research
• Managing conversations on sensitive issues
• Reducing barriers to participation in field research
• Ensuring research is mutually beneficial for the researcher and participant
• Ensuring informed consent
• Ensuring efficient and justified expenditure on research and evaluation activity
• Protecting the time of research participants
• Ensuring robust and useable evaluation findings
• Managing implicit bias/generalising/stereotyping during research and analysis
• Protecting the wellbeing and time of non-participating research groups (e.g. control groups who aren't receiving Pathfinder support)
• Protection of personal and sensitive data

The full framework, which includes the implications for each consideration, is set out in appendix 3.