An Approach To Naturalistic Evaluation

A naturalistic approach was used for the evaluation of a small-scale agricultural project in a village in Mali, West Africa. The illuminative evaluation strategy was tested for its ability to take into account those human aspects so often left out in the evaluation of development projects. Villager perceptions of the project form the basis of the evaluation. The evaluation consisted in (a) a period of observation, (b) discussion-interviews with informants according to age and gender (the comments from each group were compiled by themes into verbal images), (c) summarization and presentation of the images to relevant project and Malian administrators for their reactions, and (d) modified triangulation of the information through participant observa tion and secondary data. Conclusions concern villager participation and the management techniques used in the project. Conclusions about the illuminative strategy in the context of an international development project include its flexibility, which allows for progressive adaptation to the ever-changing situation of the project; the ability to represent different ideologies, beliefs, and opinions present in the project; the quality and richness of information about the reality of the project; and the absence of preordinate answer categories.