• Kathryn Parker, Jill Shaver, and Brian Hodges.
• Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kathryn.parker@sickkids.ca
• Med Educ. 2010 Nov 1; 44 (11): 1095-104.

ObjectivesComprehensive programme evaluation frameworks are increasingly important to inform the development of sophisticated programmes that educate the next generation of health professions education researchers. This paper highlights an innovative process undertaken by the Wilson Centre for Research in Education to evaluate its fellowship programme. This process incorporates the principles of programme theory and a framework drawn from the field of organisational development.MethodsDuring the iterative and dynamic process of articulating the programme's theory, a hidden tension between structured and unstructured components of the fellowship programme was unearthed. This necessitated a secondary process beyond traditional programme evaluations involving the use of a method called 'Polarity Management®'.ResultsThe use of this model allowed the team to identify priority actions for balancing both the structured and unstructured components, along with indicators which can serve as an early warning system to alert observers to any imbalance between the components.DiscussionLessons learned and implications for other health education programming and the practice of programme evaluation are discussed.© Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2010.

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