The Pursuit of Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice through Evaluation: Learning from Indigenous Scholars and the Fifth Branch of the Evaluation Theory Tree

The world faces a climate crisis that calls for increased attention to social, economic, and environmental justice. Non-Indigenous evaluators can choose to continue their work business-as-usual, or they can choose to learn from Indigenous evaluators. The exclusion of Indigenous scholars from the evaluation theory tree results in an opportunity lost to improve theory and practice across all communities. A fifth branch on the evaluation theory tree, Context and Needs, aligns with the Indigenous paradigm and serves to stimulate questions about evaluation theory and practice that inherently address issues of justice and the importance of recognizing the interconnectedness of all living and nonliving things

PROGRAM EVALUATION WITHOUT A CLIENT: THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING INTENDED USERS

Abstract: Evaluators know they are supposed to identify and engage with stakeholders. What happens when the client has a very narrow concept of the meaning of evaluation? What happens when the primary stakeholders, including the client, disappear just as the evaluation gets started? First, it is important to acknowledge the challenge, then develop a strategy to negotiate the scope of the evaluation and to broaden the community of stakeholders. Divergent pathways are explored to facilitate use of the evaluation findings in such settings

Contours of Inclusion: Frameworks and Tools for Evaluating Arts in Education

This collection of essays explores various arts education-specific evaluation tools, as well as considers Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the design of evaluation instruments and strategies. Prominent evaluators Donna M. Mertens, Robert Horowitz, Dennie Palmer Wolf, and Gail Burnaford are contributors to this volume. The appendix includes the AEA Standards for Evaluation. (Contains 10 tables, 2 figures, 30 footnotes, and resources for additional reading.) This is a proceedings document from the 2007 VSA arts Research Symposium that preceded the American Evaluation Association's (AEA) annual meeting in Baltimore, MD

The Iowa Homemaker vol.34, no.3

Star your college goals, Gwen Olson, page 5 Encourage your Cyclones, Carolyn Shehan, page 6 Brighten up, Sally Young, page 9 Dollars for scholars, Becky Metcalf, page 10 Forecast, Donna Mumford, page 12 What’s new, Jean Redman, page 14 That missing leaf, Joan Mertens, page 17 Trends, Kay Scholten, page 1

The Iowa Homemaker vol.34, no.4

Weather or not, Jean Redman, page 5 Flaming dinners, Jane Brintlinger, page 6 You and AHEA, Sally Young, page 7 Polish with wax, Joan Mertens, page 8 What’s new, Donna Mumford, page 10 Sell ISC, Doris Jirsa, page 11 Do it yourself, Mary Vandecar, page 12 Trends, Carolyn Shehan, page 1

The role of strong-tie social networks in mediating food security of fish resources by a traditional riverine community in the Brazilian Amazon

Social networks are a significant way through which rural communities that manage resources under common property regimes obtain food resources. Previous research on food security and social network analysis has mostly focused on egocentric network data or proxy variables for social networks to explain how social relations contribute to the different dimensions of food security. Whole-network approaches have the potential to contribute to former studies by revealing how individual social ties aggregate into complex structures that create opportunities or constraints to the sharing and distribution of food resources. We used a whole-network approach to investigate the role of network structure in contributing to the four dimensions of food security: food availability, access, utilization, and stability. For a case study of a riparian community from the Brazilian Amazon that is dependent on fish as a key element of food security, we mapped the community strong-tie network among 97% of the village population over 14 years old (n = 336) by integrating reciprocated friendship and occupational ties, as well as close kinship relationships. We explored how different structural properties of the community network contribute to the understanding of (1) the availability of fish as a community resource, (2) community access to fish as a dietary resource, (3) the utilization of fish for consumption in a way that allows the villagers to maximize nutrition while at the same time minimizing toxic risks associated with mercury exposure, and (4) the stability of the fish resources in local ecosystems as a result of cooperative behaviors and community-based management. The contribution of whole-network approaches to the study of the links between community-based natural resource management and food security were discussed in the context of recent social-ecological changes in the Amazonian region

Identification and Differentiation of the Twenty Six Bluetongue Virus Serotypes by RT–PCR Amplification of the Serotype-Specific Genome Segment 2

Bluetongue (BT) is an arthropod-borne viral disease, which primarily affects ruminants in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Twenty six bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes have been recognised worldwide, including nine from Europe and fifteen in the United States. Identification of BTV serotype is important for vaccination programmes and for BTV epidemiology studies. Traditional typing methods (virus isolation and serum or virus neutralisation tests (SNT or VNT)) are slow (taking weeks, depend on availability of reference virus-strains or antisera) and can be inconclusive. Nucleotide sequence analyses and phylogenetic comparisons of genome segment 2 (Seg-2) encoding BTV outer-capsid protein VP2 (the primary determinant of virus serotype) were completed for reference strains of BTV-1 to 26, as well as multiple additional isolates from different geographic and temporal origins. The resulting Seg-2 database has been used to develop rapid (within 24 h) and reliable RT–PCR-based typing assays for each BTV type. Multiple primer-pairs (at least three designed for each serotype) were widely tested, providing an initial identification of serotype by amplification of a cDNA product of the expected size. Serotype was confirmed by sequencing of the cDNA amplicons and phylogenetic comparisons to previously characterised reference strains. The results from RT-PCR and sequencing were in perfect agreement with VNT for reference strains of all 26 BTV serotypes, as well as the field isolates tested. The serotype-specific primers showed no cross-amplification with reference strains of the remaining 25 serotypes, or multiple other isolates of the more closely related heterologous BTV types. The primers and RT–PCR assays developed in this study provide a rapid, sensitive and reliable method for the identification and differentiation of the twenty-six BTV serotypes, and will be updated periodically to maintain their relevance to current BTV distribution and epidemiology (http://www.reoviridae.org/dsRNA_virus_proteins/ReoID/rt-pcr-primers.htm)

RT-PCR assays for seven serotypes of epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus & their use to type strains from the Mediterranean region and North America

Epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) infects wild ruminants, causing a frequently fatal haemorrhagic disease. However, it can also cause bluetongue-like disease in cattle, involving significant levels of morbidity and mortality, highlighting a need for more rapid and reliable diagnostic assays. EHDV outer-capsid protein VP2 (encoded by genome-segment 2 [Seg-2]) is highly variable and represents the primary target for neutralising antibodies generated by the mammalian host. Consequently VP2 is also the primary determinant of virus “serotype”, as identified in virus neutralisation tests (VNT). Although previous reports have indicated eight to ten EHDV serotypes, recent serological comparisons and molecular analyses of Seg-2 indicate only seven EHDV “types”. Oligonucleotide primers were developed targeting Seg-2, for use in conventional RT-PCR assays to detect and identify these seven types. These assays, which are more rapid and sensitive, still show complete agreement with VNT and were used to identify recent EHDV isolates from the Mediterranean region and North America

Changing the world with mixed methods

From climate change to water security - there are some problems facing the world that often seem unsolvable. So how can researchers stay positive about the role they have in tackling these huge challenges and which research methods should they consider using? In this episode of our podcast, Dr Donna Mertens, Professor Emeritus at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, and keynote speaker at the 2018 Research Methods Festival, calls on researchers to stay optimistic about the role they have in beating the world's ‘wicked’ problems and explains why she believes a mixed methods is key to doing research in troubling times