Qualitative evaluation and scientific citizenship: Reflections and refractions

Qualitative approaches to evaluation have recently attained legitimacy. Now it's time to advance their influence. Towards that end, this discussion offers a self-reflective critique of four critical issues in qualitative evaluation: relativism, theory and generalization, warrant and inquiry criteria, and positioning. Refractions from this critique embolden a recentering of qualitative evaluation around its socio-political value dimensions and a concomitant assumption of the rights and responsibilities of scientist citizens. These refractions further challenge the remainder of the evaluation community to do the same.