Need a guidebook on how to do some of the key “nuts and bolts” of evaluation?
Evaluation Methodology Basics: The Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation (Sage Publications, 2005), provides a step-by-step guide for doing a real, genuine, actionable, value-based evaluation.
It is not a “research methods” book – there are plenty of those out there. Don’t buy this book if you are wanting to learn survey design, interviewing, focus groups, statistical or qualitative analysis techniques. That’s not what this book is about.
Rather, it covers the methodologies that are specific to evaluation, with just enough theory to help the evaluation practitioner grasp how the various methodologies fit into the big picture.
Evaluation Methodology Basics covers:
- the main kinds of “big picture” evaluation questions that evaluators usually need to answer, and how the nature of such questions is linked to evaluation methodology choices
- the fundamentals of needs assessment – what, why, and how, in a nutshell
- how to identify potential sources of evidence to answer key evaluation questions
- how to tell whether outcomes are likely due to the evaluand (program, policy, etc) or not – eight strategies, including many that can be used with qualitative evidence
- how “valuable outcomes”, a “quality design”, or “good implementation” should be defined – based on what
- how to figure out the relative importance of criteria (e.g. which outcomes are the most important)
- rubrics and other methods for evaluative interpretation of evidence (for participatory or independent evaluation)
- synthesis methodology – options for pulling multiple different findings together to answer big-picture evaluation questions and draw overall conclusions
- pulling it all together in a report using Scriven’s Key Evaluation Checklist as a framework
- Meta-evaluation – evaluating evaluations on validity, utility, conduct, credibility, and costs
Exercises and “pop quiz” questions help reinforce the key points covered in each chapter, provide homework assignments for those teaching an evaluation course, and allow learners to develop slices of an evaluation plan as they work their way through the text.
Zimbabwe-born, U.S.-based evaluator Dr. Tererai Trent had this to say about how Evaluation Methodology Basics helped her get through the demanding Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Evaluation at Western Michigan University:
“It’s simple, practical and user friendly and addresses real practical issues in the field. I did my graduate studies after many years in development work where I was involved in the evaluation of rural development programs in Africa. I went back to school because I needed to understand the theory, methodology and practice of professional eval to ground myself. Bombarded with the ‘not so-well explained’ and complicated jargon and one way of thinking that at times come along with some literature, I found an evaluation voice that helped me to gain my sanity, and helped simplify, familiarize and contextualize everything that I was learning in my Evaluation classes – that was the ‘Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation’ book by Jane Davidson. It was a good start and has remained one of the ‘must-have’ publications for my reference shelf.”
– For more about Tererai’s work and her journey, check out her website at Tinogona Consulting
Evaluation Methodology Basics is an ideal text for students of evaluation and students in programs that have evaluation course requirements, such as education, health, sociology, psychology, and many others throughout the social sciences. It will also be essential reading for practitioners who find themselves thrown into evaluation roles without the benefit of specialized evaluation training.
Order now for delivery anywhere in New Zealand!
$85 + GST, incl. P&P (total $97.75)
