Today rapidly changing organizations need the best tools for driving high performance, meeting customer needs, measuring outcomes and improving service delivery. This book shows how to effectively use internal evaluation to determine a business or program's effectiveness, efficiency, economy and performance. It combines theory with the author's extensive experience to provide an indispensable resource for novice internal evaluators, experienced evaluation professionals and for managers responsible for evaluating their own programs.
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.
Nowadays, a considerable amount of evaluation work is implemented internally—both nationally and across the world. As such, it is exceedingly important for evaluators and organizations to be aware of the issues in designing and implementing internal evaluation to realize its potential for enhancing organizational growth, competitive advantage, and social impact. This issue includes perspectives on internal evaluation from experienced evaluation practitioners from different fields and organizations who share theoretical and practical examples and case studies in promoting and conducting internal evaluation. The chapters: Highlight societal and organizational changes that have shaped the current trends in internal evaluation Discuss foundational issues in internal evaluation Provide rich illustrations of internal evaluation practice in different settings with diverse foci (customer-driven vision and a results-based orientation for evaluation, accountability and development, and building evaluation capacity). This is the 132nd volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.
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.
The 'Encyclopedia of Evaluation' recognises the growth of evaluation around the world & highlights all the major contributions to the field. There are over 400 entries organised alphabetically.
This encyclopedia is the first major reference guide for students new to the field, covering traditional areas while pointing the way to future developments.
This volume addresses a fundamental and highly debated issue in the evaluation field – the use of evaluation information for decision-making. Chapter authors honor the contributions of Professor Marvin C. Alkin to the evaluation use literature and advance our thinking on the topic by exploring a wide range of issues related to the theoretical and practical challenges of using evaluation information to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Readers will come away from this volume with a new and clearer understanding of the theoretical, contextual, methodological, and political dimensions of use and with direction for practice. Chapters are written by leading evaluation scholars, including Ernest House; Stewart Donaldson and Tarek Azzam; Eric Barela; Richard D. Nunneley, Jr., Jean A. King, Kelli Johnson, and Laura Pejsa; Eleanor Chelimsky; Michael Quinn Patton; and Wanda D. Casillas, Rodney K. Hopson and Ricardo L. Gomez. Evaluation Use and Decision-Making in Society: A Tribute to Marvin C. Alkin will be of great interest to evaluation students, scholars and practitioners. This volume has scholarly application for those who desire a state-of-the-art resource for the latest insights and perspectives on one of the most pressing issues that the evaluation field faces today, while also serving as a useful guide for both novice and experienced evaluation practitioners. It is appropriate for use in a variety of evaluation courses including Introduction to Evaluation and Procedural Issues in Evaluation as well as topical seminars such as Evaluation Use and Decision-Making.
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.
Handbook of Workplace Assessment Given the trend for organizations to streamline their workforces and focus on acquiring and retaining only top talent, a key challenge has been how to use assessment programs to deliver a high-performing workforce that can drive revenues, shareholder value, growth, and long-term sustainability. The Handbook of Workplace Assessment directly addresses this challenge by presenting sound, evidence-based, and practical guidance for implementing assessment processes that will lead to exceptional decisions about people. The chapters in this book provide a wide range of perspectives from a world-renowned group of authors and reflect cutting-edge theory and practice. The Handbook of Workplace Assessment provides the framework for what should be assessed and why and shows how to ensure that assessment programs are of the highest quality reviews best practices for assessing capabilities across a wide variety of positions summarizes key strategic applications of assessment that include succession management, mergers, acquisitions and downsizings, identification of potential, and selection on a global scale highlights advances, trends, and issues in the assessment field including technology-based assessment, the legal environment, alternative validation strategies, flaws in assessment, and the strategic use of evaluation to link assessment to organizational priorities This SIOP Professional Practice Series Handbook will be applicable to HR professionals who are tasked with implementing an assessment program as well as for the users of assessments, including hiring managers and organizational leaders who are looking for direction on what to assess, what it will take, and how to realize the benefits of an assessment program. This Handbook is also intended for assessment professionals and researchers who build, validate, and implement assessments.
