LIEPP is glad to invite you to a next session of the cycle of seminars "Methods and Approaches in Evaluation" (METHEVAL), which will present the book Realist Evaluation: Principles and Practice co-authored by Emma Williams and Ana Manzano.

Speakers

• Emma Williams is a senior researcher and evaluator who has conducted over 200 realist interviews in studies across Africa, Asia and Oceania in diverse areas such as governance models and environmental issues. She is now conducting research on how evaluation stakeholders make ethical decisions in evaluations. She was an Associate Professor in the Realist Research, Evaluation and Learning Initiative (RREALI) at Charles Darwin University (Australia). 
   
• Ana Manzano is a Professor of Public Policy Evaluation at the University of Leeds (UK), and the co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Evaluation and Program Planning. Her work uses advanced evaluation methodology for real-world impact, most recently through co-producing the first Monitoring & Evaluation Strategy for the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland). In her recent realist evaluations in Nigeria, Ghana and Vietnam, she examined critical themes in social and healthcare policy, such as healthcare utilisation, financial incentives and user decision-making.

Asbtract

Ana Manzano and Emma Williams will talk about the development of their edited book, Realist Evaluation: Principles and Practice, which was published at the end of 2024. The book features contributors “across five continents in fields including climate change, criminology, health, and international development… covering participatory approaches, digital and visual data collection, interpreter-mediated interviews, and innovative methods like refuse data analysis, while addressing issues such as power, insider/outsider research, the nature of evidence, critical and scientific realism philosophies of science, and confirmation bias in qualitative research”. It showcases how the practice of realist evaluation is evolving through its use by evaluation practitioners in new settings outside the traditional European context in which it originated. Manzano and Williams will examine key debates in current realist evaluation practice and discuss why they saw a need for a book with practical advice for conducting fieldwork in realist evaluation.