Christina A. Christie

Beloved for its conversational style and reliable advice, this text is now in a revised and updated third edition, reflecting key developments in evaluation. It includes expanded coverage of equity and social justice issues, values and cost analysis, visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. Twenty-six concise chapters, or "sessions," give students, applied researchers, and program administrators a solid foundation for conducting or using evaluations. Covering both quantitative and qualitative methods, the book emphasizes fostering evaluation use. It shows how to build collaborative relationships with users; formulate answerable evaluation questions; deal with contingencies that might alter the traditional sequence of an evaluation; and collect, analyze, and report data. Student-friendly features throughout the sessions include titles written as questions, bulleted recaps, "Thinking Ahead" and "Next Steps" pointers, cautionary notes, and annotated suggestions for further reading. An in-depth case study provides the basis for end-of-session practice exercises. New to This Edition *New sessions on context-sensitive evaluation, including the organizational, sociopolitical, and community contexts of a program. *New or expanded discussions of timely topics: identifying evaluation decision makers, analyzing program costs, coding and visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. *Updated suggestions for further reading and discussion in every chapter.

Beloved for its conversational style and reliable advice, this text is now in a revised and updated third edition, reflecting key developments in evaluation. It includes expanded coverage of equity and social justice issues, values and cost analysis, visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. Twenty-six concise chapters, or "sessions," give students, applied researchers, and program administrators a solid foundation for conducting or using evaluations. Covering both quantitative and qualitative methods, the book emphasizes fostering evaluation use. It shows how to build collaborative relationships with users; formulate answerable evaluation questions; deal with contingencies that might alter the traditional sequence of an evaluation; and collect, analyze, and report data. Student-friendly features throughout the sessions include titles written as questions, bulleted recaps, "Thinking Ahead" and "Next Steps" pointers, cautionary notes, and annotated suggestions for further reading. An in-depth case study provides the basis for end-of-session practice exercises. New to This Edition *New sessions on context-sensitive evaluation, including the organizational, sociopolitical, and community contexts of a program. *New or expanded discussions of timely topics: identifying evaluation decision makers, analyzing program costs, coding and visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. *Updated suggestions for further reading and discussion in every chapter.

Evaluation in Action: Interviews With Expert Evaluators is the first book to go behind the scenes of real evaluations to explore the issues faced—and the decisions made—by notable evaluators in the field. Drawing from the popular "Exemplars" section in the American Journal of Evaluation (AJE), the book's twelve interviews with evaluators illustrate a variety of evaluation practices in different settings and include commentary and analysis on what the interviews teach about evaluation practice. Praise for Evaluation in Action"Evaluation in Action: Interviews With Expert Evaluators is a "must" read for those who want to know how evaluations really take place."—Marvin C. Alkin, University of California, Los Angeles"This book offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the assumptions, values, logic, and reasoning behind evaluator choices. It models the reflection required of good practice. The interviews are accessible and engaging, like being invited to a conversation over coffee—a tribute to the power of storytelling. They drew me in and made me want to join the discussion and ask even more questions. The section on cultural competence in evaluation is a particularly significant contribution to the knowledge base of our field. —Karen Kirkhart, Syracuse University, former President of American Evaluation Association "This book is unique in the breadth of evaluation types and settings covered and the interview format provides a personal, in-depth picture of the evaluator's thinking. I'm excited about using it with my students." —Katye M. Perry, Oklahoma State University, former Chair of the Topical Interest Group on Teaching of EvaluationThis book fills a major gap in evaluation literature. In addition to the cases, the introductory chapter is a masterful distillation of key issues in evaluation, while the last two chapters provide a concise analysis of the interaction of evaluation theory and practice.—Leslie Cooksy, University of Delaware "A fresh and insightful glimpse into the deliberations and choices made by practicing evaluators. The questions asked of the evaluators are right on target and give students of evaluation, whether they are in the classroom or on the job, solid guidance on navigating around the dilemmas that arise when dealing with stakeholders and with sticky ethical challenges. This text fills a need in training evaluators not met by current textboooks." —Kathryn E. Newcomer, George Washington University