Evaluative thinking

Evaluative thinking is a core skill used by evaluators. It brings evaluation practice to a higher level of sophistication and utility and helps to ensure that evaluation findings, interpretations and recommendations are contextualised, evidence-based and practical. This article draws upon decades of the work of evaluators who have published on thinking critically and evaluatively. It identifies and explores the five primary elements of evaluative thinking – critical, contextual, creative, practical thinking and reflective practice – and offers a practical framework for examining and applying these elements of evaluative thinking. It also distinguishes evaluative thinking from evaluation planning and implementation, which it precedes and guides. Finally, it proposes that evaluative thinking should be examined and learned intentionally as a core evaluation skill just as, for example, various methodologies or methods of analysis are taught.