Evaluation

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.

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.

Global thinking principle -- Anthropocene as context principle -- Transformation engagement principle -- Integration principle -- Transboundary engagement principle -- GLOCAL principle -- Cross-silos principle -- Time being of the essence principle -- Yin-yang principle -- Bricolage methods principle -- World savvy principle -- Skin in the game principle -- Theory of transformation principle -- Transformation fidelity principles : evaluating transformation -- Transformational alignment principle : transforming evaluation to evaluate transformation.

How can programs and organizations ensure they are adhering to core principles--and assess whether doing so is yielding desired results? From evaluation pioneer Michael Quinn Patton, this book introduces the principles-focused evaluation (P-FE) approach and demonstrates its relevance and application in a range of settings. Patton explains why principles matter for program development and evaluation and how they can serve as a rudder to navigate the uncertainties, turbulence, and emergent challenges of complex dynamic environments. In-depth exemplars illustrate how the unique GUIDE framework is used to determine whether principles provide meaningful guidance (G) and are useful (U), inspiring (I), developmentally adaptable (D), and evaluable (E). User-friendly features include rubrics, a P-FE checklist, firsthand reflections and examples from experienced P-FE practitioners, sidebars and summary tables, and end-of-chapter application exercises. ÿ

This is not an evaluation textbook.It is not going to teach you how to specify key evaluation questions. Or show you how to manage an evaluation. Or give you the definition for what is evaluation. By picking up this book you are not going to learn how to do a cost-benefit analysis. There is no well-researched discussion on culturally responsive evaluation. This book will not help you differentiate between measurement and evaluation. You will not learn how to choose between formative, summative, and developmental evaluation. It will not teach you how to visualize data or tell data stories. This book will not make your reports better.This is not a book written by Peter Rossi, Donna Mertens, Michael Quinn Patton, or Michael Scriven.It is a book of cartoons. These cartoons were drawn by an evaluator named Chris Lysy for an evaluation audience. They originally appeared at some time or another on a blog called freshspectrum. You may have seen some of these cartoons on social media. You may have seen some in evaluation presentations. Or you may have seen some of these cartoons in textbooks written by people who have the kinds of credentials you might want if you were to publish some type of evaluation textbook.This book may help you explain evaluation or at least start a conversation. Some of the cartoons tackle evaluation methods. Some tackle ethical challenges. Some cartoons make light of serious situations.It is the kind of book you give to a friend or colleague who has no clue what evaluation is or what evaluators do for a living. It is the type of book you buy for an evaluation student. Because all the other books that introduce these topics cannot help but be a bit dry.It is the book you give to all your clients. Not because they will find the jokes funny, they probably will not. But it will help you start a conversation.It is the type of must have book for any evaluator. It is the kind of book where you decide to buy two copies. One to read and the other so that you can tear out the pages and hang them on your cubicle wall.This is the book you buy to make your evaluation presentations more fun, because in addition to having all of these cartoons to read and show off, you also get digital versions you can download and share royalty-free.So no, this is not an evaluation textbook. But it is an evaluation book you should buy.

The concepts of Murray Bowen, one of the founders of family therapy and the originator of family systems theory, are brought together here in an integrative fashion. Michael Kerr (who worked with Bowen for many years) and Bowen propose that the enormously complex task of evaluating a clinical family can be orderly when it is grounded in family systems theory. Using family diagrams and case studies, the book is devoted to an elegant explication of Bowen theory, which analyzes multigenerational family relationships and conceptualizes the family as an emotional unit or as a network of interlocking relationships, not only among the family members, but also among biological, psychological, and sociological processes. Bowen’s persistent inquiry and devotion to family observation, in spite of obstacles and frustrations, have resulted in a theory that has radically changed our ways of looking at all behavior.

This book presents leading-edge analysis on the theory and practice of participatory evaluation around the world. With its instructive case studies from Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, and St Vincent, the book is a guide to a community-based approach to evaluation that is at once a learning process, a means of taking action, and a catalyst for empowerment.Knowledge Shared is the most comprehensive book now available on participatory evaluation. It is intended primarily as a tool for practitioners and policymakers in all segments of development cooperatio.

"The book's chapters provide background on how and why the CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product) Model was developed; a detailed presentation of the model; an explanation of the key role of an evaluation-oriented leader, who can decide what and when to evaluate; detailed presentations on evaluation design, budgeting, and contracting; procedures and tools for collecting, analyzing, and reporting evaluation information; and procedures for conducting standards-based meta-evaluations (evaluations of evaluations). These topics are interspersed with illustrative evaluation cases in such areas as education, housing, and military personnel evaluation"--