Critical Approaches to Evidence and Evaluation in Social Services & Communities

Discourses of evidence-based practice increasingly permeate social services, and audit technologies abound. This course explores discourses of research and accountability as they relate to practice in social services and communities. It also prepares students to conduct critical evaluation a variety of settings. It supports students to examine the evaluation practices of a particular social service or community setting: to apply conceptual frameworks about evidence and accountability to the reporting requirements the agency engages and to the measures used to define success; and, drawing on literature in the field, to propose justice-focused improvements or alternatives.