evaluation
ih-val-yoo-AY-shun
/ɪˌvæl.juˈeɪ.ʃən/
The making of a judgment about the amount, number, value, quality, or importance of something.
Requires weighing evidence against specific standards or criteria to form a reasoned judgment.
The story behind the word. Derived from Old French 'évaluer', which traces back to Latin 'ex-' (out) and 'valere' (to be strong or have value). To evaluate is literally to 'draw out the value' of something.
Word relationships
- assessment: 'Assessment' often refers to measuring progress or condition, whereas 'evaluation' focuses heavily on judging ultimate worth or quality.
- appraisal: 'Appraisal' is frequently used for valuing property, assets, or employee performance.
- ignorance: Lack of knowledge or judgment.
- acceptance: Taking something as it is without assessing its value or quality.
Commonly confused with
- estimation: 'Estimation' is a rough calculation of quantity or size, whereas 'evaluation' is a judgment of quality or value.
Word family
- evaluate (verb): To judge or determine the worth or quality of.
- evaluative (adjective): Relating to or involving evaluation.
Collocations
- critical evaluation
- rigorous evaluation
- conduct an evaluation
- evaluation criteria
Example sentences
- "A thorough evaluation of the research methods revealed several unaddressed biases in the original study." Academic assessment
Memory hook
E-VALU-ATION = extracting the VALUE of an idea. EVALUATION = pulling out the true value.
When not to use
Do not use when describing simple observation without judging worth or quality.
Fun facts
- In Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, evaluation was long considered the highest tier of cognitive skills.
Related words
Explore more words
assess, standard, critique, conclusion, observation, efficacy
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