Abstract
Based on a two-&-one-half-year ethnographic study of an evaluation project in juvenile justice, the backstage behaviors & interactions of evaluators are limited. Adopted is the interactionist idea that groups employ tactics for managing audiences & maintaining fronts. The strategies employed by national evaluators to manage appearances, requests, expectations, & interactions occurring between themselves, the funding agency, & local evaluators involved in a large-scale evaluation project are examined. Covered are the content, implementation, & results of the interactive strategies. The importance of interactive processes occurring during the course of an evaluation research project can be seen in their effect on the daily lives of the researchers, the quality of the evaluation, & the content of the final document that the evaluators produce.