Evaluation Roots

Showing how evaluation practice looks when guided by theory, the third edition of the influential "theory tree" book is significantly revised with over 80% new material, including a greater focus on equity and theories over theorists. Chapters from leading authorities describe the goals of each theory; the type of evaluation for which it is appropriate (formative, summary formative, summative, adaptive); the size of the program for which it is most applicable; specific prescriptions; and observable actions that help to define the theory. Readers are given the tools to select suitable approaches for the size, contexts and stage of an evaluation and their own personal values. New to This Edition *Chapters on culturally responsive evaluation, Indigenous evaluation, and developmental evaluation. *Organized around theories rather than individual theorists. *Increased attention to practical applications, including a chapter distilling the goals, methods, and standards of evaluations based on each theory. *Case study chapter on the role of theory in evaluation policy.

Initially, evaluation was derived from social science research methodology and accountability concerns. This book examines evaluation theories and traces their evolution with the point of view that theories build upon theories and, therefore, evaluation theories are related to each other.

Evaluation Roots: A Wider Perspective of Theorists’ Views and Influences, Second Edition provides an updated examination of current evaluation theories and traces their evolution. Marvin C. Alkin shows how theories build upon theories and how the theories are related to each other. The way in which these evaluation "roots" grew to form a tree helps to provide a better understanding of evaluation theory. In addition to the editor's overview, the book contains essays by leading evaluation theorists. In these pieces, the evaluators comment on their own development and give their views of their placement upon the tree. **All royalties from sales of this book are donated to support the AEA Research on Evaluation Student Award.**

*Major revision of a work that gives researchers the tools to select the right theory for their evaluation task. *Clearly lays out the goals of each theory, how it translates into practice, and the conditions under which it is best applicable. *Third edition has an increased focus on diversity/equity and is organized around theories rather than individual theorists. *Top editors and contributors are highly regarded, experienced evaluators.

Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority Michael Quinn Patton shows how to conduct evaluations within a DE framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He illustrates how DE can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development, adapting effective principles of practice to local contexts, generating innovations and taking them to scale, and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations. Students and practicing evaluators will appreciate the book's extensive case examples and stories, cartoons, clear writing style, "closer look" sidebars, and summary tables. Provided is essential guidance for making evaluations useful, practical, and credible in support of social change.

Evaluators have always worked in diverse communities, and the programs they evaluate are designed to address often intractable socio-political and economic issues. Evaluations that explicitly aim to be more responsive to culture and cultural context are, however, a more recent phenomenon. In this book, Jill Anne Chouinard and Fiona Cram utilize a conceptual framework that foregrounds culture in social inquiry, and then uses that framework to analyze empirical studies across three distinct cultural domains of evaluation practice (Western, Indigenous and international development). Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation provide a comparative analysis of these studies and discuss lessons drawn from them in order to help evaluators extend their current thinking and practice. They conclude with an agenda for future research.

Program Evaluation: Embedding Evaluation into Program Design and Development provides an in-depth examination of the foundations, methods, and relevant issues in the field of evaluation. With an emphasis on an embedded approach, where evaluation is an explicit part of a program that leads to the refinement of the program, students will learn how to conduct effective evaluations that foster continual improvement and enable data-based decision making. This text provides students with both the theoretical understanding and the practical tools to conduct effective evaluations while being rigorous enough for experienced evaluators looking to expand their approach to evaluation.

Evaluation for the 21st Century features thoughtfully written introductions to each of the main sections that provide a context and synthesis of the various evaluators' chapters. After reading this groundbreaking book, researchers and practitioners will be able to recognize these new developments in evaluation as they encounter them, place them in context, and incorporate them into their own evaluation professions and practices.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

This book offers a straightforward, practical introduction to evaluation for beginners and practitioners. It shows how to identify appropriate forms and approaches, using an original framework. The authors examine the role of evaluation in program development, and offer techniques for involving stakeholders in the planning process and for disseminating the evaluation findings. They use references to recent research and international examples.