Fact sheet 3: Safe and inclusive evaluation

Evaluation should be safe and inclusive for all people with disability. To do this, people must plan to support different needs. This includes thinking about:

  • ethics
  • intersectionality
  • cultural safety
  • trauma-informed practice. 

The examples in Fact sheet 1: Adjustments and supports can be useful to support safe and inclusive evaluation for people. This includes people from intersectional cohorts and/or those who have experienced trauma.

Ethics

Ethics is about more than just knowing what's right and wrong, or fair and unfair. For human research, including evaluation, we need to think about:

  • the benefits and risks of research
  • how we will manage the risk of harm.

Some evaluation might need a registered Human Research Ethics Committee to approve the ethics of its research. Evaluators must make sure the benefits of evaluation activities outweigh any possible harm to participants.

You can learn more about ethics in Fact sheet 6: Ethics.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality recognises that identity markers, such as gender, race or religion, can overlap and have a compounding effect. These effects can also be felt by other diverse groups of people with disability, such as those living in rural or remote areas.

This can affect how people engage in evaluation, and the people organising evaluations should take tailored approaches to make sure intersectional groups are safe.

Fact sheet 7: Including diverse views talks about making sure evaluation includes the voices of people who experience intersectionality. Evaluations should think about:

  • People with disability living in regional, rural and remote areas. They might find it harder to take part in in-person evaluation. They are also likely to have limited internet which can make it hard to take part in online evaluation.
  • People with disability whose first or main language is not English. They might need or want information translated. They also might need to use language interpreters.
  • Children and young people. They need their family or carer’s consent and support to be able to take part in evaluation. Families, including siblings, can also offer important insights when caring for and or living with a child, young person or adult with disability. Evaluation with children and young people need to be appropriate for their age.
  • People with intellectual disability. They can face barriers that can lead to them being excluded from evaluation. This can include information and questions being unclear, difficult to read or not accessible. This can also include people with intellectual disability not having the support they need to take part.
  • First Nations people with disability. They might not recognise disability the same way Western cultures do. There is often no word for ‘disability’ in First Nations languages. They might prefer to take part in evaluation on Country. They also might prefer to have local organisations they trust run or support evaluations.
  • People might rather someone with shared experience lead or run evaluations. For example, women with disability might prefer other women to lead.

Inclusion Australia has published multiple resources for their Towards Inclusive Practice project. These resources can help to make sure evaluation is inclusive and accessible for people with intellectual disability.

You can learn more about the voices of people who experience intersectionality in evaluation in Fact sheet 7: Including diverse views.

Cultural safety

Cultural safety is when someone’s cultural identity is respected and they feel valued, safe and trusted. First Nations people can decide what cultural safety looks like for them.

When working with First Nations people with disability, all stages of evaluation must be underpinned by cultural safety and self-determination. Self-determination refers to a person’s right to control and make decisions about their own life.

Dr Scott Avery’s book, Culture is Inclusion, talks about First Nations understandings of disability. It includes a section titled ‘A playbook for community-directed research’. This section shows different types of research, including how researchers chose and used them.

Making sure evaluation supports cultural safety

To make sure evaluation supports cultural safety, First Nations people with disability should be leaders and partners in all stages of evaluation. Where possible, this should include collecting and using data.

There are good resources about how to do this, such as:

The Australian Evaluation Society’s First Nations Cultural Safety Framework is also a good resource. It includes:

  • advice about what culturally safe environments should look like
  • 10 principles for culturally safe evaluation.

Using these principles is an important step in planning a culturally safe evaluation. Evaluation that includes First Nations peoples in research should follow the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research.

People from the Australian Government who run and plan evaluations should refer to the Commonwealth Indigenous Evaluation Strategy. It explains the best ways to evaluate policies and programs that affect First Nations peoples.

The Australian Public Service Commission's First Nations Partnership Playbook is also a good resource. It aims to guide government workers on how to create good partnerships with First Nations peoples, communities and organisations.

Trauma-informed

Trauma-informed practice recognises the impact of trauma on people’s well-being. It aims to make sure participants do not experience more distress and trauma. This means:

  • creating safe spaces
  • building and maintaining trust
  • working together
  • making sure participants don’t experience more trauma.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies published a guide called ‘Principles for doing trauma-informed research and program evaluation’. This guide uses evidence to explain what trauma-informed research looks like. It says trauma-informed research and evaluation can be on any topic and with any group of people.

Consultation fatigue

Consultation fatigue – also known as participant fatigue – happens when people with disability are asked to take part in too many consultations or research. They can feel tired or not engaged. This can happen when participants:

  • are asked the same questions
  • not seeing any real change from their input
  • experience emotional stress from sharing their stories repeatedly.

It's important to make participant experiences positive. This can help with participant fatigue. For example, evaluators should make sure they:

  • show that they value participants’ time and work
  • show how participants’ feedback makes a difference
  • create safe and respectful spaces for participants.

Supporting resources: