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What are Assumptions?

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Working with Assumptions in International Development Program Evaluation

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Abstract

Although the pertinence of implicit assumptions is underlined in theory-based evaluations, the nature of these assumptions has been rarely discussed. To understand the nature of underlying assumptions, it is necessary to review the notion of assumptions in general and its remarkable role in the generation of knowledge. This chapter discusses the nature of assumptions and groups in 10 categories of assumptions according to Brookfield’s (Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995) typology: Paradigmatic, Prescriptive and Causal assumptions and according to the degree of articulation.

Even the most well-intentioned person unwittingly allows unconscious thoughts and feelings to influence apparently objective decisions

Banaji, M. N. in Fine and Handelsman 2006, p. 1

Every human society rests on assumptions that, most of the time, are not only unchallenged but not even reflected upon. In other words, in every society there are patterns of thought that most people accept without question as being of the very nature of things

Trachman and Bluestone 2005, p. 131

To deny a proposition is not the same as to confirm its denial. …Given a proposition P, there is an associated proposition not-P. Either of these…may be merely supported or assumed. But when we deny P, we are not concerned with mere assumption, and there is nothing to be done with P that is logically equivalent to assuming not-P….the state of mind in which we reject a proposition is not the same as that in which we accept its negation

Russell 1904, p. 336

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  1. World Vision, Inc, I Street NE 300, Washington, DC, 20002, USA

    Apollo M. Nkwake

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Nkwake, A.M. (2013). What are Assumptions?. In: Working with Assumptions in International Development Program Evaluation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4797-9_6

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