Doctoral Degrees (Drama)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Drama) by Subject "Applied theatre programmes"

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    Assessing change : investigating evaluation practices in applied theatre
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Van Schalkwyk, Mareth; Pretorius, Mareli Hattingh; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the problematic nature of assessing and evaluating change brought about by applied theatre programmes. Many applied theatre programmes, projects and practitioners lay claim to successful behaviour change and effective social transformation as programme, project or performance outcomes. These claims are subject to scepticism as often such proclamations are made without rigorous and valid assessment and evaluation methodologies and practices. Practitioners frequently lament the lack of appropriate measurement tools, not only to assess the effectiveness of programmes, but also to improve programmes and report to funders. The study focused on three research questions, namely: a) Why the need for assessment and what constitutes change; b) Why are current assessment methods successful or unsuccessful; c) What is needed from a measurement tool? A literature study and an empirical study have been conducted in order to answer the three set questions. The literature study firstly examines why the need for assessment and evaluation exists. Secondly, it investigates change; how it can be defined and how it works. The assessment and evaluation practises of various social science fields are discussed and comparisons drawn to applied theatre in order to investigate whether these theories, methodologies and techniques can be used in the applied theatre field. Lastly, assessment and evaluation methodologies and techniques within the applied theatre field are explored and the effectiveness of each method is discussed as a conclusion to the literature study. The empirical study takes the form of an online survey and interviews and the questions set in the survey directly correlate with the three research questions. The results of the empirical study support the findings of the literary study. Practitioners mostly agree that programmes should be evaluated and assessed, but the factors of a lack of knowledge and skills with regards to evaluation practices, the complex nature of applied theatre programmes, the challenge of measuring human behaviour and the difficulty of attributing change to one influence combine to create the feeling of overwhelming helplessness amongst practitioners. Theories on change have been extensively researched, but most applied theatre practitioners are not familiar various change theories. This oversight becomes more troublesome when it is considered that most evaluation and assessment methodologies are based on a specific change theory. In light of what change and sustained change imply, a shift needs to be made away from instigating change to encouraging efficacy. Evaluation methodology should be tailor-made for each programme and no one-size-fits-all evaluation method is possible. Suitable evaluation methodology exists, but practitioners require skills and knowledge to use different components and techniques creatively to suit the specific purposes of their programmes/projects. In conclusion I suggest an evaluation toolkit as possible solution to the above mentioned problems, which encompasses the facilitation of knowledge and skills, whilst empowering facilitators to design and implement an appropriate evaluation method that accurately measures the effectiveness of their applied theatre programmes.