ABSTRACT
During AEA 2019, I introduced a new framework for conceptualizing evaluation, Ontologically Integrative Evaluation (OIE), which incorporates multiple ways of knowing to ensure that each stakeholder’s light shines throughout the evaluation process. Here I illuminate the six foundational tenets of OIE which collectively shed light on and reverse the historical dimming of non-western voices in evaluation discourse. Two of these proposed tenets, ontological authenticity and ontological vocation, expand the work of others notable in the field, while the remaining four—ontological fluidity, ontological validity, ontological synthesis, and ontological justice—represent new standards for evaluation. Building our evaluation practice upon these foundational tenets reframes our thinking and shifts our practice such that it better reflects the lived realities of communities and thus yields more useful findings. Whether implementing OIE or another evaluation approach, these six foundational tenets serve as standards for evaluating an evaluation’s merit, worth, and value.