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This text provides an introduction to the theory and practice of internal evaluation. It presents the stages of internal evaluation growth, ways of identifying users' needs and selecting appropriate evaluation methods.
This book highlights practitioners in different industries and organizations who provide theoretical and practical examples of their work in promoting and conducting internal evaluation.
Focused on the interpersonal aspects of internal evaluation in non-profit organisations, this book presents practice-based discussions centred on six key topics identified through the authors' experience as evaluation practitioners. Internal Evaluation in Non-Profit Organisations: Practitioner Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Practice is not a step-by-step how-to guide; instead, each chapter unpacks an aspect of internal evaluation in non-profits that is paid insufficient heed in the existing literature. Written by and for internal evaluation practitioners, the book contains a plethora of practical strategies and critical analysis of thought-provoking topics that are of particular interest and importance to internal evaluators in non-profit settings. The authors understand the pressures facing practitioners and non-profit organisations and share their insights around improving evaluation's ability to be efficient, embedded, useful, and meaningful. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars, and students focusing on non-profit management and will hold specific value for internal evaluators who want to harness their unique and influential position to help organisations achieve their goals. Further, this book is ideal for individuals wanting to think critically about evaluation and improve evaluation utilisation by developing their professional capability, building teamwork skills, using informal everyday data, incorporating theory, and developing fruitful relationships with external evaluators.
This book is valuable to those involved in the evaluation of public organisations. Particularly insightful is the realization that similar challenges faced in various organizations are addressed with very different solutions.
Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority Michael Quinn Patton shows how to conduct evaluations within a DE framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He illustrates how DE can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development, adapting effective principles of practice to local contexts, generating innovations and taking them to scale, and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations. Students and practicing evaluators will appreciate the book's extensive case examples and stories, cartoons, clear writing style, "closer look" sidebars, and summary tables. Provided is essential guidance for making evaluations useful, practical, and credible in support of social change.
All humans are nascent evaluators. Evaluation has been with us throughout history, and in its modern form has moved from the margins to the centers of organizations, agencies, educational institutions, and corporate boardrooms. No longer a specialized, part-time activity, evaluation has become institutionalized, a common practice, and indeed an important commodity in political and social life. The Encyclopedia of Evaluation is an authoritative, first-of-its-kind who, what, where, why, and how of the field of evaluation. Covering professional practice as well as academia, this volume chronicles the development of the field—its history, key figures, theories, approaches, and goals. From the leading publisher in the field of evaluation, this work is a must-have for all social science libraries, departments that offer courses in evaluation, and students and professional evaluators around the world. The entries in this Encyclopedia capture the essence of evaluation as a practice (methods, techniques, roles, people), as a profession (professional obligations, shared knowledge, ethical imperatives, events, places) and as a discipline (theories and models of evaluation, ontological and epistemological issues). International Scope Despite the fact that evaluation practice is not institutionalized in the same way around the world, the encyclopedia recognizes the international growth of the profession, due in large part to organizations such as UNICEF, the World Bank, and USAID. Entries cover the following: Afghanistan, Belgium, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Israel, Netherlands, Niger, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and Uganda. In addition, the international group of authors includes contributions from more than a dozen nations. There are a number of stories about evaluation practice around the world that are set off as sidebars in the text. These stories provide a glimpse into the nature of evaluation practice in a diverse set of circumstances, delineate the common and uncommon issues for evaluators around the world, and point to the complexities of importing evaluation from one culture to another. Interdisciplinary Methodological Coverage Much of the practice of evaluation has grown out of the social science research tradition. While psychological methods and psychometrics continue to be useful, evaluation research today draws from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, education, political science, literary criticism, systems theory, and others. This Encyclopedia covers all of the relevant methodologies, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Evaluators and Theories The Encyclopedia of Evaluation includes significant coverage of the major figures in the field throughout its history. Many of these figures are well known for a particular theory or approach, and whenever applicable, the entries make this connection for the reader as well as provide references for further reading. Good examples include Michael Quinn Patton and Utilization-Focused Evaluation, David Fetterman and Empowerment Evaluation, Daniel Stufflebeam′s CIPP Model of Evaluation, and Huey Chen and Theory-driven Evaluations. Key Themes • Concepts, Evaluation • Concepts, Methodological • Concepts, Philosophical • Concepts, Social Science • Ethics and Standards • Evaluation Approaches and Models • Evaluation around the World, Stories • Evaluation Planning • Evaluation Theory • Laws and Legislation • Organizations • People • Publications • Qualitative Methods • Quantitative Methods • Representation, Reporting, Communicating • Systems • Technology • Utilization Key Features • More than 100 contributors from around the world • Single, affordable volume with nearly 600 entries arranged alphabetically • Entries written by an international team of experts, including narratives that depict evaluation practice around the world • Reader′s Guide arranges entries into 18 thematic categories to facilitate browsing among core topics Editorial Board Ross Connor, University of California, Irvine Lois-Ellin Datta, Consultant Melissa Freeman, University at Albany Rodney Hopson, Duquesne University Saville Kushner, University of the West of England, U.K. Yvonna S. Lincoln, Texas A&M University Cheryl MacNeil, Community Activist and Evaluation Consultant Donna M. Mertens, Gallaudet University, Washington DC James Mugaju, UNICEF Zenda Ofir, EvalNet Michael Quinn Patton, Union Institute and University Hallie Preskill, University of New Mexico Debra Rog, Vanderbilt University Patricia Rogers, Evaluation Practitioner, Researcher, and Educator Thomas A. Schwandt, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Michael Scriven, Auckland University, New Zealand Elizabeth Whitmore, Carleton University, Canada
In this Handbook, Reinhard Stockmann and other esteemed experts in the field provide a systematic and comprehensive exploration into the planning, process, implementation and utilisation of evaluations. Covering the process and individual steps of evaluation in detail, in chronological order and in terms of practical application, it identifies the characteristics and standards that distinguish a professionally and competently conducted evaluation.
Based on Michael Quinn Patton's best-selling Utilization-Focused Evaluation, this briefer book provides an overall framework and essential checklist steps for designing and conducting evaluations that actually get used. The new material and innovative graphics present the utilization-focused evaluation process as a complex adaptive system, incorporating current understandings about systems thinking and complexity concepts. The book integrates theory and practice, is based on both research and professional experience, and offers new case examples and cartoons with Patton's signature humor.
Beloved for its conversational style and reliable advice, this text is now in a revised and updated third edition, reflecting key developments in evaluation. It includes expanded coverage of equity and social justice issues, values and cost analysis, visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. Twenty-six concise chapters, or "sessions," give students, applied researchers, and program administrators a solid foundation for conducting or using evaluations. Covering both quantitative and qualitative methods, the book emphasizes fostering evaluation use. It shows how to build collaborative relationships with users; formulate answerable evaluation questions; deal with contingencies that might alter the traditional sequence of an evaluation; and collect, analyze, and report data. Student-friendly features throughout the sessions include titles written as questions, bulleted recaps, "Thinking Ahead" and "Next Steps" pointers, cautionary notes, and annotated suggestions for further reading. An in-depth case study provides the basis for end-of-session practice exercises. New to This Edition *New sessions on context-sensitive evaluation, including the organizational, sociopolitical, and community contexts of a program. *New or expanded discussions of timely topics: identifying evaluation decision makers, analyzing program costs, coding and visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. *Updated suggestions for further reading and discussion in every chapter.
