education

How do these approaches influence the practice of evaluation today? Everyone evaluates. As we discussed in Chapter 1, we all form opinions or make judgments about the quality of things we encounter. Such evaluations include everything from the meal we just finished eating or the movie or con- cert we saw last week to more […]

A Classification Schema for Evaluation Approaches We have chosen to classify the many different evaluation approaches into the four categories that we have developed based on our identification of the primary fac- tor that guides or directs the evaluation: 1. Approaches oriented to comprehensive judgments of the quality of the program or product: These approaches

Classifications of Evaluation Theories or Approaches Existing Categories and Critiques In recent years, several evaluators have attempted to categorize evaluation theo- ries for different purposes. Shadish, Cook, and Leviton’s (1995) book was influ- ential in reviewing important evaluation theorists, at least partly to illustrate historical trends and changes in the field, but primarily to identify

Disciplinary Boundaries and Evaluation Methodology. It is ironic that in a field with such a rich array of alternative evaluation approaches, there still ex- ists, among some evaluators, a tendency to fall prey to the law of the instrument 120 Part II • Alternative Approaches to Program Evaluation fallacy2 rather than to adapt or develop

Differences among evaluators and approaches over the years comes from Stevenson and Thomas (2006) One useful framework for explaining the differences among evaluators and approaches over the years comes from Stevenson and Thomas (2006), who ana- lyzed what they called the intellectual contexts for evaluation. They identified three traditions in evaluation that are closely tied

The Influence of Paradigms on Evaluation Practice. These philosophical para- digms, and their implications for methodological choices, have influenced the de- velopment of different evaluation approaches. Some have argued that paradigms and qualitative and quantitative methods should not be mixed because the core beliefs of postpositivists and constructivists are incompatible (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). As

A Transformative Paradigm. More recently, a new paradigm for evaluation has emerged—the transformative paradigm. It emerged initially, and is still most pow- erful, in international development work and in the developing world, though the paradigm is gaining proponents in the United States and Western countries. Like constructivism and postpositivism, this paradigm emerged in response to

Philosophical and Ideological Differences Logical Positivism. Early evaluations emerged from the social sciences, in particular education and psychology, at a time when the dominant paradigm was positivism. Logical positivists, a more extreme branch of positivism, argued that knowledge was obtained entirely through experience, specifically through observation, and held rigid views concerning the world and data

Origins of Alternative Views of Evaluation The diversity of evaluation approaches has arisen from the varied backgrounds, experiences, and worldviews of their authors, which have resulted in diverse philosophical orientations, and methodological and practical preferences. These different predispositions have led the authors—and their adherents—to propose sometimes widely different methods for conducting evaluations and for collecting

Diverse Conceptions of Program Evaluation The many evaluation approaches that have emerged since 1960 range from com- prehensive models to checklists of actions to be taken. Some authors opt for a comprehensive approach to judging a program, while others view evaluation as a process of identifying and collecting information to assist decision makers. Still others