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s evaluation a true profession, a field of study and activity, or a subset of other professions? For every individual who practices evaluation as a full-time role, there are thousands who use evaluation to support broader professions. And while there are advantages for an individual to work full-time as an evaluator, there are other advantages of having evaluation embedded in other professions.
Evaluation is used to measures such things as the effectiveness of public and organizational programs, the quality of goods and services, the impact of training, the performance of personnel and equipment, and the potential value of proposed actions. ''Evaluation should be seen as a process of knowledge production, which rests on the use of empirical inquiry'' . In other words, evaluation is making a value judgment of the merit or worth of an object based upon a set of standards or criteria. With such a wide range of uses, it's not surprising that a number of professions have established standards and guidelines to encourage its correct use.
WHAT IS A PROFESSION?
One of the earliest and most accepted definitions of a profession comes from the highly respected educator, Jim Finn, as he reviewed the audiovisual field to see whether it was a true profession. According to Finn (1953), ''A profession has, at least, these characteristics: (a) an intellectual technique, (b) an application of that 354