Marginalization and Privilege: Conceptual Frameworks, Research Operational Definitions, and Working Discussions

Operational definitions assist in forming concrete and coordinated approaches to concepts that may have multiple perspectives and definitional understandings. Program evaluation often is used in contexts where marginalized groups are an integral part of the evaluand, and privileged stakeholders are frequently in positions of decision-making and commissioning evaluations. While many research articles from the evaluation field discuss various elements of marginalization and privilege, neither concept has been concretely defined in a way that assists in developing conceptual frameworks that consider the several elements involved in privileged and marginalized epistemologies. This presentation will review an operational definition of marginalization created within the Development field, and how the work to construct that definition inspired the use of phenomenological research to create an operational definition of privilege. Both operational definitions provide several layers of investigation that may be conducted within program evaluation to enrich activities, analysis of data, and overall construction of evaluation proposals. Intersectional oppression theory, kyriarchy, and a review of interview subject perspectives and experiences of privilege will be discussed.