Informing Federal Policies on Evaluation Methodology: Building the Evidence Base for Method Choice in Government Sponsored Evaluations

Informing Federal Policies on Evaluation Methodology: Building the Evidence Base for Method Choice in Government Sponsored Evaluations

Author: George Julnes

Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Published: 2007-04-20

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9780787997342

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One of the most divisive issues in the evaluation community has been the debate over which methodologies are to be considered adequate or commendable in addressing different evaluation questions in different settings. One form of this debate involved opposing camps of proponents of qualitative versus quantitative methods. A decade ago, there was some hope that the two sides of this debate, referred to as the paradigm war, were learning to respect each other. More recently, however, a federal agency priority for funding random assignment experimental studies has reignited the debate. This volume provides a space for a productive dialogue that, by identifying areas of agreement but also fundamental differences, will promote a more durable working consensus on the circumstances in which some methods are to be preferred over others. The chapter authors and discussants make clear that there are different types of evidence with which to inform this dialogue, including empirical findings of the impact of method choice on evaluation outcomes, the evidence contained in the wisdom of practice, and the results of critical analyses of the broader social impacts of method choice. The editors build on these contributions to suggest pragmatic policies for federal agencies, promoting both context-appropriate method choice and the importance of managing portfolios of evaluative research that maintain desired distributions of methodologies. This is the 113th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, a publication of Jossey-Bass and the American Evaluation Association.


Promoting Value in the Public Interest: Informing Policies for Judging Value in Evaluation

Promoting Value in the Public Interest: Informing Policies for Judging Value in Evaluation

Author: George Julnes

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-03-16

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1118310489

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Do you make evidence-based decisions when designing and conducting evaluations, and use methods validated by experience? Because of the growing importance of evidence-based decision-making for improving programs and policies, this issue examines methods selection: Which is better? How can one be improved? Are the results of the project worth the resources expended? and how that leads to confidence in value-based conclusions. It presents a constructive dialogue on valuing in evaluation, with the goal of developing a pragmatic approach for guiding method choice and for promoting methodology policies that support multiple approaches to valuation being employed in context-appropriate ways so as to serve the public interest. This is the 133rd volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.


Credible and Actionable Evidence

Credible and Actionable Evidence

Author: Stewart I. Donaldson

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2014-09-10

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 148335508X

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Addressing one of the most important and contentious issues challenging applied research and evaluation practice today—what constitutes credible and actionable evidence?—this volume offers a balanced and current context in which to analyze the long-debated quantitative-qualitative paradigms. In the Second Edition, the contributors, a veritable "who’s who" in evaluation, discuss the diversity and changing nature of credible and actionable evidence; offer authoritative guidance about using credible and actionable evidence; explain how to use it to provide rigorous and influential evaluations; and include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation to suggest ways to address the key issues and challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in the field and covering both experimental and non-experimental methods, the new edition includes revised and updated chapters, summaries of strengths and weaknesses across varied approaches, and contains diverse definitions of evidence. Also included are two new chapters on assessing credibility and synthesizing evidence for policy makers. This is a valuable resource for students and others interested in how to best study and evaluate programs, policies, organizations, and other initiatives designed to improve aspects of the human condition and societal well-being.


Context: A Framework for Its Influence on Evaluation Practice

Context: A Framework for Its Influence on Evaluation Practice

Author: Debra J. Rog

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1118465059

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Context is a force in evaluation. It shapes our practice, influencing how we approach and design our studies, how we carry them out, and how we report our findings. Context also moderates and mediates the outcomes of the programs and policies we evaluate. This issue focuses squarely on the role that context plays in practice and illuminates its effect on the implementation and outcomes of programs. Exploring the ways in which attending to context may improve the quality of evaluation practice, the contributions span theory, methods, and practice in an effort to move to a more comprehensive conceptualization of context that can guide our work. It: Provides an historical and theoretical view of evaluators’ treatment of context Illustrates how context has influenced evaluation practice Presents a five-area framework for guiding a contextual analysis of evaluations Introduces “context assessment,” which provides a means of integrating context and its implications within the important stages of evaluation. This is the 135th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.


What Counts as Credible Evidence in Applied Research and Evaluation Practice?

What Counts as Credible Evidence in Applied Research and Evaluation Practice?

Author: Stewart I. Donaldson

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1412957079

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"What Counts as Credible Evidence in Applied Research and Evaluation Practice? is the first book of its kind to define and place into greater perspective the meaning of evidence for evaluation professionals and applied researchers. Editors Stewart I. Donaldson, Christina A. Christie, and Melvin M. Mark provide observations about the diversity and changing nature of credible evidence, include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation practice, and suggest ways in which practitioners might address the key issues and challenges of collecting credible evidence." "This book is appropriate for a wide range of courses, including Introduction to Evaluation Research, Research Methods, Evaluation Practice, Program Evaluation, Program Development and Evaluation, and evaluation courses in Social Work, Education, Public Health, and Public Policy."--BOOK JACKET.


Facilitating Evaluation

Facilitating Evaluation

Author: Michael Quinn Patton

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2017-10-23

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1506347606

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In Facilitating Evaluation, Michael Quinn Patton recounts stories of his experiences as an evaluation facilitator. Evaluation facilitation applies and adapts general facilitation knowledge and techniques to the specialized challenges of working with stakeholder groups involved in program evaluation. The purpose of such facilitation is to enhance the relevance, credibility, meaningfulness, and utility of evaluations. Michael Quinn Patton outlines five evaluation facilitation principles that are the organizing framework for addressing how to work with stakeholders to generate evaluation questions, make decisions among methods, interpret findings, and participate in any and all aspects of evaluation, from initial determination of purpose through design and data collection, and on through follow-up to ensure and enhance use. His between-chapter portages are an opportunity to hear different voices and encounter diverse perspectives on evaluation facilitation. In each case, he invited colleagues to write about anything they thought was important to understand and yet neglected in the evaluation literature. The book will be required reading for advanced courses in program evaluation and become an indispensable resource for practitioners in the field.


Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation

Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation

Author: Michael Quinn Patton

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2011-08-22

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 1483306976

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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.


Education, Policy and Democracy

Education, Policy and Democracy

Author: Stewart Riddle

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-10-31

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1000993140

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This book brings together diverse, international scholarly perspectives on education and democracy in response to contemporary challenges for educational leadership, policy and practice. The contributions meaningfully engage with a range of local and global issues regarding democratic participation and agency, with a particular focus on implications for educational access, engagement and justice. Each chapter considers the complex tensions and interplay between education histories, policies, practices and research to better understand how education can be for democracy in the twenty-first century. There is much work to be done in the field of democratic education, whether it be in the search of a better understanding of education and democracy’s relationship to one another, questions of how education might be for democracy, the importance of teaching young people about democracy, and whether education can be more democratic. This book makes a small, but important, contribution to these struggles for more democratic and socially just futures through education. Education, Policy and Democracy: Contemporary Challenges and Possibilities will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of education leadership and policy, educational administration, politics, research methods, and sociology. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration and History.


Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation

Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation

Author: Frédéric Varone

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-10-06

Total Pages: 443

ISBN-13: 1800884893

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This comprehensive Handbook examines public policy evaluation in democracies. Focusing on the political dimension of the evaluation process, it argues that policy evaluation can be an emancipatory tool, reducing social inequalities and exclusion, and offers novel suggestions on how evaluations can be used to improve democratic policymaking.


Utilization-Focused Evaluation

Utilization-Focused Evaluation

Author: Michael Quinn Patton

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2008-06-18

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 1483360148

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The Fourth Edition of the bestselling Utilization-Focused Evaluation provides expert, detailed advice on conducting program evaluations from one of leading experts. Chock full of useful pedagogy—including a unique utilization-focused evaluation checklist—this book presents Michael Quinn Patton′s distinctive opinions based on more than thirty years of experience. Key Features of the Fourth Edition Provides thoroughly updated materials including more international content; new references; new exhibits and sidebars; and new examples, stories, and cartoons Includes follow-up exercises at the end of each chapter Features a utilization-focused evaluation checklist Gives greater emphasis on mixed methods Analyzes the pluses and minuses of the increased emphasis on accountability and performance measurement in government at all levels Details the explosion of international evaluation Intended Audience Both theoretical and practical, this core text is an essential resource for students enrolled in Program Evaluation courses in a variety of disciplines—including public administration, government, social sciences, education, and management. Practitioners will also find this text invaluable.