Evaluating Social Programs And Problems

Today's evaluators are being challenged to help design and evaluate social programs intended to prevent and ameliorate complex social problems in a variety of settings, including schools, communities, and not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. Drawing upon the knowledge and experience of world-renowned evaluators, the goal of this new book is to provide the most up-to-date theorizing about how to practice evaluation in the new millennium. It features specific examples of evaluations of social programs and problems, including the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular and promising evaluation approaches, to help readers determine when particular methods are likely to be most effective. As such, it is the most comprehensive volume available on modern theories of evaluation practice. Evaluating Social Programs and Problems presents diverse, cutting-edge perspectives articulated by prominent evaluators and evaluation theorists on topics including, but not limited to: *Michael Scriven on evaluation as a trans-discipline; *Joseph S. Wholey on results-oriented management; *David Fetterman on empowerment evaluation; *Yvonna S. Lincoln on fourth-generation evaluation; *Donna M. Mertens on inclusive evaluation; *Stewart I. Donaldson on theory-driven evaluation; and *Melvin M. Mark on an integrated view of diverse visions for evaluation. Evaluating Social Programs and Problems is a valuable resource and should be considered required reading for practicing evaluators, evaluators-in-training, scholars and teachers of evaluation and research methods, and other professionals interested in improving social problem-solving efforts in the new millennium.

Today's evaluators are being challenged to help design and evaluate social programs intended to prevent and ameliorate complex social problems in a variety of settings, including schools, communities, and not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. Drawing upon the knowledge and experience of world-renowned evaluators, the goal of this new book is to provide the most up-to-date theorizing about how to practice evaluation in the new millennium. It features specific examples of evaluations of social programs and problems, including the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular and promising evaluation approaches, to help readers determine when particular methods are likely to be most effective. As such, it is the most comprehensive volume available on modern theories of evaluation practice. Evaluating Social Programs and Problems presents diverse, cutting-edge perspectives articulated by prominent evaluators and evaluation theorists on topics including, but not limited to: *Michael Scriven on evaluation as a trans-discipline; *Joseph S. Wholey on results-oriented management; *David Fetterman on empowerment evaluation; *Yvonna S. Lincoln on fourth-generation evaluation; *Donna M. Mertens on inclusive evaluation; *Stewart I. Donaldson on theory-driven evaluation; and *Melvin M. Mark on an integrated view of diverse visions for evaluation. Evaluating Social Programs and Problems is a valuable resource and should be considered required reading for practicing evaluators, evaluators-in-training, scholars and teachers of evaluation and research methods, and other professionals interested in improving social problem-solving efforts in the new millennium.

Evaluation and Experiment: Some Critical Issues in Assessing Social Programs is a collection of papers presented at the 1973 symposium held at The Battelle Seattle Research Center. This book contains eight chapters that consider some selected aspects of the problems in evaluating the outcomes of socially important programs, such as those dealing with education, health, and economic policy. The first chapter provides an overview of the issues around the Social Program Evaluation. The next chapters deal with the successes and failures brought by social innovations; the quasi-experimental evaluation in compensatory education to estimate the true effects of such education programs; and the usefulness and validity of econometric and related nonexperimental approaches for assessing the effects of social programs. These topics are followed by surveys of a number of additional program-evaluation studies, particularly in the field of family planning or fertility control, mostly carried out as experiments or quasi-experiments in Asian and Latin American countries. Other chapters describe the decision processes that involve explicit assessment of the worth or merit of outcomes and employ multivalued utility analysis and outline the ways in which evaluative data are useful in providing feedback to program or institutional operations and decisions. The final chapter discusses resolutions for some of the disagreements expressed by others concerning the role of field experiments, constraints in their utilization, and other factors that enter into a comprehensive conception of program evaluation.

This book presents visions of how to solve social problems in the 21st century and how programs SHOULD be evaluated, not how they will be evaluated.

Program Evaluation uses a practical, reader-friendly approach to de-mystify evaluation research, clarifying evaluation's relationship to social work practice and providing the knowledge necessary to conduct it. This book assumes some familiarity with traditional research methods and basic statistics or are currently studying them. It contains all necessary definitions and brief explanations of essential research terminology and concepts. However, it relates them directly to their usage in evaluation research, which is often quite diffent from the way they are used in traditional research. Well organized with excellent flow from chapter to chapter, Program Evaluation does not read like a research methods book, making it the most accessible book on evaluation research available.

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.

Project sustainability has received considerable attention in recent years. The increased awareness stems from a growing concern with social development issues such as poverty reduction, project sustainability, the equal participation of women, and the social costs of economic development. This handbook provides a comprehensive guide to the wide range of techniques available for monitoring and evaluating the main kinds of social development programs. The authors highlight or review a number of topics that have been overlooked in earlier evaluation publications, such as: -The organization of monitoring and evaluation at the project, sectoral, and national levels -The management of the databases required to elect, design, and implement new social projects and programs -The monitoring and evaluation of project sustainability -Simple and cost-effective methods of estimating project impact. The authors also discuss methods for identifying potential beneficiaries and their information needs and ways of managing evaluations.