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Focusing on ethical challenges in program evaluation, this innovative book features six case-study scenarios that end at a point where the evaluator faces a significant decision about how to proceed. For each case, two distinguished evaluators offer insights on the best course of action to choose, and why. "What If?" boxes modify the details of the scenarios, inviting readers to reflect on whether these changes alter the ethical implications of the case. Six additional cases are presented with questions that guide readers to develop their own ethical analyses. The book is organized to follow the progress of an evaluation, from the entry/contracting phase through the utilization of results.
While women have influenced the fields of program evaluation and mixed methods research, their contributions are rarely acknowledged. In this edited volume, we recognize the contributions Jennifer C. Greene made to evaluation and mixed methods, focusing on how she disrupted traditional ways methods are conceptualized and implemented. We aim to provide a range of perspectives on how Greene disrupted social science theory, methodology, and training through her commitment to the values of democracy, diversity, and dialogue. Accordingly, the volume makes explicit how Greene democratized social science inquiry and training by emphasizing inclusive, culturally responsive, and educative theories, m...
Mixed methods in evaluation have the potential to enhance the credibility of evaluation and the outcomes of evaluation. This issue explores advances in understanding mixed methods in philosophical, theoretical, and methodological terms and presents specific illustrations of the application of these concepts in evaluation practice. Leading thinkers in the mixed methods evaluation community provide frameworks and strategies that are associated with improving the probability of reaching the goals of enhanced credibility for evaluations, the evidence they produce, and the actions taken as a result of the evaluation findings. This is the 138th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
This issue of New Directions for Evaluation addresses the topic of evaluation policy, especially how it is informed by and affects evaluation practice. An evaluation policy is any rule or principle that a group or organization uses to guide its decisions and actions when doing evaluation. Every group and organization that engages in evaluation, including government agencies, private businesses, and nonprofit organizations, has evaluation policies. Sometimes they are formal, explicit, and written; at other times they are more implicit and ad hoc principles or norms that have simply evolved over time. Evaluation policy is a critically important issue for the field and profession of evaluation....
Practitioners give insights on building and satisfying demand for evaluation in developing countries and on the use of evaluation findings to improve decision making on development policies and programs." "This volume offers useful insights into methods for evaluating the effectiveness of development and assessing the performance of development aid and aid agencies."--BOOK JACKET.
The Handbook contains a gold mine of articles by leading scholars on what has come to be known as the third methodological movement in social research. Aimed at surveying the differing viewpoints and disciplinary approaches of mixed methods, this breakthrough book examines mixed methods from the research enterprise to paradigmatic issues to application. The book also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of mixed methods designs, and provides an array of specific examples in a variety of disciplines, from psychology to nursing. The book closes with a brief section on how to teach and perform collaborative research using a mixed methods research design. Written so that it can be used either as a pedagogical tool or as a reference for researchers, the book is rich in examples and includes a glossary, easy-to-follow diagrams, and tables to help readers become more familiar with the language and controversies in this evolving area.
This issue of New Directions for Evaluation focuses on evaluation in complex organizations. The themes that are examined?the mainstreaming of evaluation within organizations, the growth of evaluation capacity, and the use of evaluation to promote organizational learning?are relevant for evaluators who operate in environments marked by multiple organizational levels, varied funding streams, divergent purposes for evaluative information, and numerous stakeholders and organizational partners. The national Cooperative Extension System serves as a recurring case study that links the topics together. Cooperative Extension is a system of institutions that includes every state's land-grant universit...
Evaluation examines policies and programs across every arena of human endeavor, from efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS to programs that drive national science policy. Relying on a vast array of methods, from qualitative interviewing to econometrics, it is a "transdiscipline," as opposed to a formal area of academic study. Accounting for these challenges, Evaluation Foundations Revisited offers an introduction for those seeking to better understand evaluation as a professional field. While the acquisition of methods and methodologies to meet the needs of certain projects is important, the foundation of evaluative practice rests on understanding complex issues to balance. Evaluation Found...
Quality assurance is necessary to maintain quality and services in the pharmaceutical and life science industries. Quality assurance demonstrates that the logic and practice of problem solving can integrate both program efficacy and regulatory compliance. This title is divided into three parts; the first part discusses the process by which a problem in regulated industry is identified, for example a manufacturing deviation that leads to an adulterated drug product, and reviews the decision-making steps involved in remedying the problem. The second part delves into the staff training requirements of procedures that are thereby revised. The third part expands on this discussion by considering piloting the proposed training module, preparing assessments of trainee proficiency, evaluating the training module, including integrating rigorous evaluative designs with formative program improvement, and documenting the entire effort. Presents a comprehensive view of the field of quality assurance An approach grounded in direct experience Uses diagrams and figures to clarify analytical points