Evaluation in Participatory Design – The Whys and the Nots

Compared to other scientific practices, the process of evaluation in participatory design (PD) is not yet very well-established. However, without systematic and explicit evaluation, it is difficult to assess whether PD (both singular projects and the field more generally) can achieve its goals of empowerment, mutual learning, and democracy. This paper thus aims to describe how and why the evaluation of PD is not only beneficial but necessary for PD, to remain accountable as a scientific, social, and political practice, to improve PD practice, and to account for PD’s ideals. Moreover, the paper aims to push a dialogue in the community on why evaluation has not become an established part of doing PD, suggesting reasons such as cynicism about evaluation, the complexity and situatedness of PD, and underlying ontological and epistemological debates. This work thus aims to catalyse a richer discourse on evaluation of PD within the community.