Melvin M Mark, Gary T Henry, George Julnes

Evaluation

An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving Public and Nonprofit Policies and Programs

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Programs that serve the needs of the public continually face changes brought by social, political, and economic forces. To survive these changes, organizations must evaluate their programs wisely and realistically. This book offers a new approach to evaluation, one that will encourage all kinds of organizations and agencies to improve their contributions to social betterment. The authors draw from three decades of evaluation practice and theory to present their own framework for conceptualizing evaluation and for pragmatically assessing social policies and programs. They analyze four purposes of evaluation: * To review the merit of programs and their value to society * To improve the organization and its services * To ensure program compliance with mandates * To build knowledge and expertise for future programs For the practitioner, these purposes help define the approach and methods for an evaluation. The authors also enrich their discussion with four possible modes of inquiry: description, classification, causal analysis, and values inquiry. Filled with tables, charts, and figures, this resource invites organizations to make the most appropriate programming decisions based on thoughtful and systematic methods. Evaluation: An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving Policies and Programs is a tool that scholars can use to rejuvenate their view of evaluation and that practitioners can use to integrate the best techniques with a contemporary understanding of social policy and change.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley
• Seitenzahl: 416
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. September 2000
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 29mm
• Gewicht: 831g
• ISBN-13: 9780787948023
• ISBN-10: 0787948020
• Artikelnr.: 22066444

Autorenporträt

GARY HENRY professor of Public Administration, Political Science, and Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State and co-editor-in-chief of New Directions for Evaluation. MELVIN MARKS professor of psychology at Penn State and editor of the American Journal of Evaluation. GEORGE JULNES assistant professor of Psychology in the Research and Evaluation Methodology at Utah State University. The authors combine varied backgrounds in research methods, public administration, psychology, and education which should help this book reach varied audiences.

Inhaltsangabe

A Brief Overview of the Evaluation Enterprise.
A Framework for Describing and Planning Evaluations.
Social Betterment.
Realist Foundations for Sensemaking Through Evaluation.
Aligning Betterment, Purposes, Modes of Inquiry, and Methods forSensemaking
in a Realist World.
Evaluation Planning for Sensemaking in a Real(ist) World.
Methods for Description.
Classification.
Methods for Causal Analysis.
Values Inquiry.
Evaluation as Assisted Sensemaking: A Reprise.

Rezensionen

"It is a text thoroughly worth the attention of anyone interested in the field of evaluation." (CharityChannel.com, August 4, 2003)"This is one of the most coherent and comprehensive theories ofevaluation yet formulated and one that makes a most valuablecontribution. The authors are pioneering in important newdirections."
--Ernest R. House, author of Professional Evaluation andEvaluating with Validity

"Evaluators of many theoretical and practical persuasions canfind a comfortable place for themselves within the big tent that isevaluation as assisted sensemaking. And, they need not worry thatthe tent will collapse. This tent has been constructed of sturdymaterials, from a design that interweaves innovation withtradition, by builders with vision, talent, and commitment."
--Jennifer C. Greene, professor, educational psychology,University of Illinois

"This volume is essential reading for every evaluator andevaluation user, and would make an outstanding, readable, andprovocative text for an evaluation method or strategies course. Thebook accomplishes the near impossible of presenting concrete,specific evaluation methods and tools while at the same timeintegrating them into a coherent, credible philosophical framework.I predict this volume will immediately become the 'thought leader'in the first decade of this new millennium, articulating the newconsensus in evaluation perspectives."
--William Trochim, professor, Department of Policy Analysisand Management, Cornell University

"This book is the best I've ever read detailing a practicaltheory of evaluation. It is comprehensive, beautifully written, andmakes sense of the evaluation enterprise. It does so by emphasizingthe major function of evaluation as sense-making about policies andprograms."
--Thomas D. Cook, professor, sociology, psychology, education,and public policy, Northwestern University