in tension with

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Could anyone tell me the meaning of the phrase "to be in tension with"?

Thank you.

Celia

 

[RonBee]

Hi,

Could anyone tell me the meaning of the phrase "to be in tension with"?

Thank you.

Celia

I am unfamiliar with that phrase. If you will post a sentence in which that appears, perhaps I can figure it out. (Context is always helpful.)



8)

 

[mei]

Here is the context. By the way, could you please help me with the senence underlined. I am not quite sure about its meaning. Thank you. :wink:

A much more densely populated point on the scale, and one that is much closer to full involvement, concerns meeting with project or program staff to discuss a proposed evaluation design. One of the problems here is that the evaluator needs to get some cooperation in order to do the forthcoming evaluation, so staff members have a powerful source of pressure they can use to move the design toward one biased positively (e.g., with respect to choice of interviewees, types of comparisons to be made). But. of course there is also the ever-present hazard of the emergence of personal likings and dislikings that can affect the objectivity of the evaluation. On the whole, it seems desirable to avoid such meetings, replacing them, if at all, with a design submitted to the project director, who may or may not circulate it and may or may not call for and pass on comments. So-called participatory design, part of the empowerment movement, is about as sloppy as one can get, short of participatory authoring of the final report (unless that report is mainly done for educational or therapeutic purposes). To say that is not in tension with saying that (noninteractive) feedback on the design from the staff is often, perhaps typically, highly desirable.

 

[RonBee]

A toughie ;-)

Wow! that is a toughie. ;-) I'll do my best.

Here is the context. By the way, could you please help me with the senence underlined. I am not quite sure about its meaning. Thank you. :wink:

A much more densely populated point on the scale, and one that is much closer to full involvement, concerns meeting with project or program staff to discuss a proposed evaluation design. One of the problems here is that the evaluator needs to get some cooperation in order to do the forthcoming evaluation, so staff members have a powerful source of pressure they can use to move the design toward one biased positively (e.g., with respect to choice of interviewees, types of comparisons to be made). But. of course there is also the ever-present hazard of the emergence of personal likings and dislikings that can affect the objectivity of the evaluation. On the whole, it seems desirable to avoid such meetings, replacing them, if at all, with a design submitted to the project director, who may or may not circulate it and may or may not call for and pass on comments. So-called participatory design, part of the empowerment movement, is about as sloppy as one can get, short of participatory authoring of the final report (unless that report is mainly done for educational or therapeutic purposes). To say that is not in tension with saying that (noninteractive) feedback on the design from the staff is often, perhaps typically, highly desirable.

First of all, whoever wrote that really needs help. (It looks like bureaucratese.)

Re:
So-called participatory design, part of the empowerment movement, is about as sloppy as one can get, short of participatory authoring of the final report

That reminds me of the English saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth." In other words, having too many people involved in the project tends to confuse things, and the result isn't likely to be very good. Somebody has to be in charge. Design by committee doesn't work very well.

Re:

To say that is not in tension with saying that (noninteractive) feedback on the design from the staff is often, perhaps typically, highly desirable.

The word tension there means conflict.

BTW, it's not hard to understand why you had trouble with that one. The writer needs to use fewer words and fewer "big" words.

Please let me know if my advice was helpful to you.

8)

 

[mei]

Dear Ronbee:

Thank you very much for your help. Your explanation is really useful. Thank you for your comfort. Otherwise, I would think my English comprehesion is too poor to understand the passage in question.

Thanks again. :lol: