What role should we play to be effective evaluators? – practitioner reflections

There is still widespread debate about the role that an evaluator could, should or even must play. Evaluations are often complex and require a broad array of interlinked roles and areas of expertise, making it difficult to generate a singular definition of an evaluator. Furthermore, an evaluator may be expected to change their responsibilities and actions throughout the stages of an evaluation, changing the role they play. As practitioners, we believe there is value in contributing to this discussion, providing our perspectives based on personal experience and data collected during the 2022 European Evaluation Society conference. In this article we seek to describe six evaluator traits which we believe to be the most influential to the roles which we play, and six evaluator roles which best illustrate the impact of changing these traits.