160: Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Program Theory: Lessons Learned from the Field

Program theory serves as the foundation of theory-driven evaluation, yet its practical implementation often remains inconsistent. Some studies claiming to adopt this approach face challenges, such as over-relying on social research or presenting unclear theory construction processes, which limit their relevance to local contexts. To address this, alongside incorporating insights from social sciences, this study investigated how stakeholder engagement can support the development of program theory for evaluating Taiwan’s nationwide upper secondary school curriculum reform. The analysis focused on strategies for engaging stakeholders and the benefits of their involvement in building a program theory of theory-driven evaluation. The findings provide implications for fostering stakeholder participation and utilizing diverse data sources to create a program theory that can effectively guide evaluation.

Shu-Huei Cheng; Hui-Ling Pan; Wen-Yan Chen