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Informationen zum Autor 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. Klappentext 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. Zusammenfassung This book defines the importance of understanding that the theory only becomes useful if the practitioner is given the necessary tools for success. This new approach to evaluation is firmly grounded in realist theory. Inhaltsverzeichnis 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....
