Poetry

Poetry has been used as an alternative form of representation in evaluation reporting. As an educative tool, poetry can communicate complex findings in ways that create a learning dissonance for the readers of the report. Evaluations that use poetry in this regard seek to provoke critical dialogue among evaluation stakeholders about a particular phenomenon under investigation. By constructing a poem and creatively using the language from the narrative data obtained during the inquiry, evaluators can enhance the conceptual utility of an evaluation report, advancing understandings about an experience in a program or the influence of a policy.

Poetry can move people into conversations beyond the case at hand. As the poetry in an evaluation report influences the meanings and values held by the different stakeholders regarding ...