Evaluating and Valuing in Social Research
Evaluating and Valuing in Social Research

Author: Thomas A. Schwandt

Publisher: Guilford Publications

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1462547338

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"This book offers conceptual and practical guidance to social researchers and evaluators who intend to navigate the tangled and complicated terrain of values, valuing, and evaluating. We focus on understanding how these phenomena and associated practices are at work in social research, what investigators can and should do in dealing with such matters, and how their actions relate to longstanding concerns about objectivity, impartiality, the nature and use of evidence, and the purpose(s) of applied social research. Our primary aim is to help researchers become more explicit about values, valuing and evaluative judgments in their practices and to refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation guided by standards of reasonableness"--

Research Handbook on Program Evaluation
Research Handbook on Program Evaluation

Author: Kathryn E. Newcomer

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2024-06-05

Total Pages: 729

ISBN-13: 180392828X

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In the Research Handbook on Program Evaluation, an impressive range of authors take stock of the history and current standing of key issues and debates in the evaluation field. Examining current literature of program evaluation, the Research Handbook assesses the field's status in a post-pandemic and social justice-oriented world, examining today’s theoretical and practical concerns and proposing how they might be resolved by future innovations. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

Cases of Teachers' Data Use
Cases of Teachers' Data Use

Author: Nicole Barnes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-04-27

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1351676911

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Cases of Teachers’ Data Use addresses applications of student data beyond theoretical, school-, and district-level examinations by presenting case studies of teachers’ data use in practice. Within the context of data-driven education reform policies, the authors examine the effective and ineffective ways that teachers make use of student data in instruction, evaluation, and planning. Promising practices, based on the empirical research presented, offer strategies and routines for sound data use that can be applied in schools. Chapters written by scholars from diverse methodological perspectives offer readers multiple lenses to use in considering issues of data use such that current theoretical assumptions may be challenged and the field advanced. This uniquely focused yet comprehensive work is an indispensable resource for researchers and students interested in classroom assessment and for professionals looking to support teachers’ use of student performance data for adaptive instruction.

Evaluation Essentials
Evaluation Essentials

Author: Marvin C. Alkin

Publisher: Guilford Publications

Published: 2024-11-15

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1462555446

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"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. Key Words/Subject Areas: evaluating, programs, policy, planning, evaluations, applied research methods, courses, classes, introductory, textbooks, graduate students, assessments, educational, outcomes, approaches, becoming an evaluator, logic models, resources, case studies, effectiveness, theory and practice, social justice Audience: Graduate students and instructors in education, psychology, social work, nursing, management, and public policy; applied researchers who need a refresher on conducting evaluations; educational administrators and program administrators who use evaluations in their work"--

Being an Evaluator
Being an Evaluator

Author: Donna Podems

Publisher: Guilford Publications

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1462537804

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Demystifying the evaluation journey, this is the first evaluation mentoring book that addresses the choices, roles, and challenges that evaluators must navigate in the real world. Experienced evaluator and trainer Donna R. Podems covers both conceptual and technical aspects of practice in a friendly, conversational style. She focuses not just on how to do evaluations but how to think like an evaluator, fostering reflective, ethical, and culturally sensitive practice. Extensive case examples illustrate the process of conceptualizing and implementing an evaluation--clarifying interventions, identifying beneficiaries, gathering data, discussing results, valuing, and developing recommendations. The differences (and connections) between research, evaluation, and monitoring are explored. Handy icons identify instructive features including self-study exercises, group activities, clarifying questions, facilitation and negotiation techniques, insider tips, advice, and resources. Purchasers can access a companion website to download and print reproducible materials for some of the activities and games described in the book.

Core Concepts in Evaluation
Core Concepts in Evaluation

Author: Lori A. Wingate

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2024-07-19

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1071883852

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This unique book features original writings from evaluation′s foundational thinkers, together with new commentaries from contemporary authors. Each section includes an introduction to a core evaluation concept by the editors, a classic reading, two commentaries on that topic by contemporary authors, and a reflection guide written by the editors.

The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volume I
The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volume I

Author: Michael D. Matthews

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-03-29

Total Pages: 667

ISBN-13: 1003851169

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Drawing from philosophy, religion, biology, behavioral and social sciences, and the arts, The Routledge International Handbooks of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volumes I and II, present cutting-edge scholarship about the concept of character across the life span, the developmental and contextual bases of character, and the key organizations of societal sectors, within and across nations, that promote character development in individuals, families, and communities. This first volume, Conceptualizing and Defining Character, explores the foundations of the field by providing an array of interdisciplinary approaches to character development, including economics, education, law, literature, military science, philosophy, and many more. With contributions from international experts, Volume I brings together cutting-edge research and discusses instances of character development, including civic character, courage, fairness, forgiveness, gratitude, morality, tolerance, and thankfulness. This comprehensive publication is an essential reference for researchers and graduate students in behavioral sciences, biology, philosophy, theology, and economics, as well as practitioners leading or evaluating character education or character development programs around the world. Find Volume II: Moderators, Threats, and Contexts here: www.routledge.com/9781032172453

Practical Wisdom for an Ethical Evaluation Practice
Practical Wisdom for an Ethical Evaluation Practice

Author: Marthe Hurteau

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2023-01-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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This book provides a contemporary and thought-provoking exploration of the concept of practical wisdom--what it is and how it can be incorporated into evaluation practice. It defines what practical wisdom is, explores its roots, where it stands today, what constitutes the "wise" evaluator, and how we can develop sound judgment in an unpredictable and chaotic time. It brings together evaluation thought leaders and practitioners to examine the concept of practical wisdom. The authors’ enlightening essays are interwoven with reflective strands comprised of commentaries, examples, and new ideas added by Hurteau and her colleagues that offer a recursive and intricate pattern of reflection on the topic of practical wisdom. This is a rare book because it moves beyond evaluation methodology to explore how practical wisdom can help us develop new and better solutions for difficult evaluation situations. It will become a standard reference for practitioners, trainers. and teachers of evaluation because it considers the history, ethics, and competencies that underpin practical wisdom, and examines the ways that this untaught skill can be applied, to do, as House says, “the right thing in the special circumstances of performing the job.”

Breaking Barriers
Breaking Barriers

Author: Professor Robin Lin Miller

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-12-03

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0197647685

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What contributions can LGBT activists make to eliminating the inequities that drive the HIV epidemic in countries that are hostile to sexual and gender minority rights? In Breaking Barriers: Sexual and Gender Minority-led Advocacy to End AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, Robin Lin Miller and George Ayala tell the story of a transnational partnership among community activists from eight countries to address the entrenched stigma and discrimination that blocks sexual and gender minority people from accessing affirming HIV care. Through their extended case study of Project ACT, they demonstrate how activists contributed to social progress within their country environments, despite great obstacles. Documenting the project from its inception through to its untimely demise due to the Covid pandemic, Miller and Ayala highlight the many ups and downs endured by activists and their allies as they tried to promote access to health care in politically and culturally hostile national contexts and with limited financial resources. They raise questions about the role of donors and partners from the Global North in supporting progress on the ground in Global South countries. They also consider effective strategies for evaluating human rights-focused HIV advocacy in these fraught environments. Ultimately, Miller and Ayala provide readers guidance on principles of practice for human rights advocacy and for planning, carrying out, and evaluating projects that aspire to create structural change to improve access to affirming HIV care for sexual and gender minority people.

The Routledge Handbook of Global and Digital Governance Crossroads
The Routledge Handbook of Global and Digital Governance Crossroads

Author: Preeti Shroff-Mehta

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-08-26

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13: 1040095348

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This handbook maps and analyzes cross-sector (public–corporate–social–community–faith) governance theories, models, and practices as they are evolving in a digital world. It studies human, cultural, societal, institutional interactions and challenges in a digitally enabled world, especially in the context of post-crisis resilience and agility. Every global crisis forces societies and nations to realign while addressing deeper structural and cultural issues in governance. The Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated swift local-to-global governance responses for timely digital innovations for health crisis interventions, economic recovery, and societal equity. While every nation-state is developing global pandemic responses in a digitally enabled world, the deeper crisis of human, institutional, and societal governance deficit is also evident. This handbook documents digital governance innovations that enhance stakeholder engagement and inclusion for resilient, accountable, and effective governance across sectors. This volume reflects on a range of theoretical frameworks adapted for understanding global and digital governance. It looks at international governance collaborations; corporate governance reform; education governance innovations; public sector and urban governance; health system governance, sustainability, and environmental governance; community and faith-based governance; and digital, cultural, and creativity governance. This book is unique, as it presents important work on post Covid-19 digital and democratic governance and brings together holistic—interdisciplinary and intersectoral— perspectives from the Global North and Global South, engaging the leading scholars, practitioners, businesses, and civil society. It will be of interest to multi-sector institutions and global audiences: governments, corporates, social sector institutions, digital entrepreneurs, students and researchers, academic professionals, policy-makers, public and private sector institutional leaders, and organizational and entrepreneurial innovators interested in the field of governance.