Utilization-focused evaluation

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (6th floor)

Call Number
H62.5.U5 P37 2008
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

The Fourth Edition of the bestselling Utilization-Focused Evaluation provides expert, detailed advice on conducting program evaluations from one of leading experts. Chock full of useful pedagogy--including a unique utilization-focused evaluation checklist--this book presents Michael Quinn Patton′s distinctive opinions based on more than thirty years of experience.

Key Features of the Fourth Edition

Provides thoroughly updated materials including more international content; new references; new exhibits and sidebars; and new examples, stories, and cartoons Includes follow-up exercises at the end of each chapter Features a utilization-focused evaluation checklist Gives greater emphasis on mixed methods Analyzes the pluses and minuses of the increased emphasis on accountability and performance measurement in government at all levels Details the explosion of international evaluation

Intended Audience

Both theoretical and practical, this core text is an essential resource for students enrolled in Program Evaluation courses in a variety of disciplines--including public administration, government, social sciences, education, and management. Practitioners will also find this text invaluable.

Contents

  • Part I Toward More Useful Evaluations
  • 1 Evaluation Use: Both Challenge and Mandate
  • 2 What Is Utilization-Focused Evaluation? How Do You Get Started?
  • 3 Fostering Intended Use by Intended Users: The Personal Factor
  • 4 Intended Uses of Findings
  • 5 Intended Process Uses: Impacts of Evaluative Thinking and Experiences
  • Part II Focusing Evaluations: Choices, Options, and Decisions
  • 6 Situational Evaluation: Being Active-Reactive-Interactive-Adaptive
  • 7 Focusing on Outcomes: Beyond the Goals Clarification Game
  • 8 Evaluation Focus Options: Developmental Evaluation and Other Alternatives
  • 9 Implementation Evaluation: What Happened in the Program?
  • 10 Conceptualizing the Intervention: Alternatives for Evaluating Theories of Change
  • Part III Appropriate Methods
  • 11 Evaluations Worth Using: Utilization-Focused Methods Decisions
  • 12 The Paradigms Debate and a Utilization-Focused Synthesis
  • 13 The Meanings and Reporting of Evaluation Findings: Analysis, Interpretation, Judgment, and Recommendations
  • Part IV Realities and Practicalities of Utilization-Focused Evaluation
  • 14 Power, Politics, and Ethics
  • 15 Utilization-Focused Evaluation: Processes and Premises

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