Guiding Principles for Evaluators

A mark of the maturity of a profession is the development of professional codes of conduct. Such codes describe the ethics and standards that the professionals should abide by in their work. The codes are usually developed by relevant professional associations.

The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is a professional association devoted to the study and practice of evaluation. AEA began in 1986 with the merger of two predecessor organizations, the Evaluation Network and the Evaluation Research Society. Over the ensuing years, the AEA board of directors and membership expressed increased interest in drafting a code of professional conduct. In 1992, the AEA board of directors formed a task force with the goal of drafting a code of conduct for the evaluation profession. The resulting document was ...