The Distinction Between Merit and Worth in Evaluation

Abstract

In this paper, we distinguish between two aspects of value: merit and worth. Merit, we argue, is context-free, but worth can be determined only in relation to an actual context. If so, worth must be assessed by a separate evaluation in each context, and cannot be established without an intimate knowledge of local social, cultural, political, and value factors. Evaluation studies of worth thus require, we contend, field-oriented, qualitative, naturalistic methodologies rather than the more conventional, experimental, quantitative approaches that have characterized evaluation practice heretofore.

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