Narrative case studies have shown that, when people are involved in an evaluation of a program they are part of, it can change how they experience the program. This study used a quasi-experiment to test this proposition empirically in the context a participatory action research curriculum called Youth as Researchers. Half of all Youth as Researcher groups engaged in a participatory evaluation (PE) of their program experience through writing reflective essays, creating their own evaluation questions, and conducting peer interviews. The other half served as control groups and did not engage in the PE activities. Pre-/posttest surveys and focus group data were used to assess differences among the experimental and control groups. Study results show that participants in the experiment had important differences in their experiences in the program as a result of participation in the evaluation. Implications for future practice and research are also explored.

叙述性案例研究表明，当人们参与某个程序的评估时，他们会参与其中，这会改变他们对该程序的体验。这项研究使用一个准实验在参与性行动研究课程称为“青年作为研究者”的背景下经验地检验了这一命题。青年研究者小组中有一半通过撰写反思性文章，创建自己的评估问题以及进行同行访谈来参与其计划经验的参与式评估（PE）。另一半作为对照组，没有参加体育活动。测试前/测试后调查和焦点小组数据用于评估实验组和对照组之间的差异。研究结果表明，由于参加了评估，实验参与者在计划中的经历有着重要的差异。还探讨了对未来实践和研究的影响。