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This Year’s Winners of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation Awards

We are pleased to announce this year’s winners of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation (CJPE) Awards. These awards recognize the best article, practice notes and/or reviewer in the CJPE over a 12-month period (April to April) based on the following criteria: potential impact, originality, literature review, accessibility and technical rigour.

Best Article Award: The “What” and “Why” of (Un) Ethical Evaluation Practice: A Meta-Narrative Review and Ethical Awareness Framework

Authors: Betty Onyura, Emilia Main, Claudia Barned, Alexandra Wong, Tin D. Vo, Nivetha Chandran, Nazi Torabi, Deena M. Hamza

Onyura, B., Main, E., Barned, C., Wong, A., Vo, T. D., Chandran, N., ... & Hamza, D. M. (2023). The “What” and “Why” of (Un) Ethical Evaluation Practice: A Meta-Narrative Review and Ethical Awareness Framework. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 38(2), 265-312.  doi: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe-2023-0023

• This article received unanimous exceptional ratings for its originality, potential impact, accessibility, literature review, and technical rigor. Reviewers highly appreciated the systematic process and level of accessibility of the article and lauded its relevance and potential for impact.
• The authors captured a highly relevant topic in their systematic review of ethical awareness within evaluation and developed an evidence-informed framework of importance to anyone in the field. This contribution has great potential for both theorists and practitioners alike.
• The authors illustrated the variety of ethical considerations, the complexity of ethical decision making, and how layered ethical decision making is within evaluation. Focusing on evaluation ethics specifically (in contrast to research ethics), the contribution offers potential for broad application and testing, and presents a basis for increasing awareness, development, discussion, and debate in a way that can further evaluation ethics education, research, and ultimately practice.

Best Research and Practice Note Award: Methods to Make Sense of Resilience: Lessons from Participant Coded Micronarratives

Author: Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa

Mapitsa, C.B., (2023). Methods to Make Sense of Resilience: Lessons from Participant Coded Micronarratives. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 38(1), 99-114. doi: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.71436

• This practice note was assessed as exceptional in its clarity, structure and conceptualization and demonstrated excellent technical rigour for its methods, approach to data collection, analysis and interpretation.
• The author was systematic in detailing her team's approach to applying novel methods to engage community perspectives in defining and measuring a complex construct: resilience to impacts of climate change. 
• The approach is applicable to a wide range of cross-disciplinary sustainable development initiatives, and beyond. Reviewers appreciated the effective use of visuals to convey complex constructs and findings in a thoughtful and engaging manner. The article discusses solutions to overcome barriers encountered during participant engagement, such as literacy, numeracy, communication, comfort with technology, and access to it in various settings. As such, it was recognized as highly valuable for insights into common issues related to community engagement and participatory data collection, analysis, and validation.