Evaluating Attitudes and Practices in Community-Based Activities: Perspectives of Practitioners in City-Level Community Welfare Councils

Abstract

This study explores how community practitioners interpret “evaluation” as a way to determine the value of their practices by interviewing staff members of social welfare councils operating in complex, community-based social welfare settings in Japan. Results show that despite facing complexity and uncertainty in their practice, as well as conflicts with government-imposed evaluation criteria, practitioners remained committed to their mission and purpose and sought to realize practical value with diverse stakeholders. Their interpretation of evaluation was characterized by heterogeneous perspectives of value, the integration of diverse voices, and a focus on the utility of evaluation process and outcomes. Because social work is a value-driven discipline from which evaluation is inseparable, this research implies that social workers can broaden conceptions of evaluation and diversify evaluation methods and designs in accordance with their context of practices.