Evaluation with complexity in mind

<br>Complexity in the human social world is ubiquitous.<br> <br>Complexity refers to an interdisciplinary understanding of reality as continuously forming deeply unpredictable patterns of behaviour and structure that inevitably emerge from interaction between diverse and interdependent components and cannot be reduced to or derived from the sum of these components. It is inherently dynamic. In the human social world, social complexity emerges from the self-organisation process of everyday communicative interaction between diverse and interdependent people, and their interplay with social structures, and the physical and man-made environments. Complexity alters how we perceive stability and change, the actions we can take to modify the trajectory of a system through time and the methods we use (Kuhn, Woog & Salner, 2011, Byrne, 2013, Boulton, Allen & Bowman, 2015, Mitleton-Kelly, Paraskevas & Day, 2018, Beautement, 2018, Massa, Viscusi & Tucci, 2018).<br> <br>Evaluators encounter complexity in all aspects of their work. Yet, the profound epistemological and methodological implication of a complexity ontology remain largely obscured in evaluation theory with the utility of complexity science remaining underdeveloped. The complexity discussion is fragmented, progress appears to have stalled and the evaluator¿s toolkit remains ill-equipped to deal with increasing real-world complexity.<br> <br>This thesis argues that better theorisation of complexity-congruent evaluation is needed and explores what the perspective and language of the complexity sciences allows me to infer for evaluation theory and practice. Any reckoning of complexity-congruent evaluation must shift perspectives away from Industrial Age mindsets. It should assert a strong social sensibility and offer evaluation practitioners a language that fosters explanation that is vivid and compelling as to describe human experience and sensemaking amidst new levels of complexity in the history of the Earth that is reflected in the contemporary evaluation work. It should support and inspire those with the courage to commit to open-hearted and empathetic ways of showing up and projecting expansive visions that serve the work of contemporary social problem solving. To remain relevant and useful, we are obligated to review our worldviews and how our theories of practice and ways of working flow from them. In doing so, we may enhance our contribution to complex problem solving where and when it is most needed.<br>