Download or read book Realistic Evaluation written by Ray Pawson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1997-06-23 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of Contents

Download or read book The Science of Evaluation written by Ray Pawson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluation researchers are tasked with providing the evidence to guide programme building and to assess its outcomes. As such, they labour under the highest expectations - bringing independence and objectivity to policy making. They face huge challenges, given the complexity of modern interventions and the politicised backdrop to all of their investigations. They have responded with a huge portfolio of research techniques and, through their professional associations, have set up schemes to establish standards for evaluative inquiry and to accredit evaluation practitioners. A big question remains. Has this monumental effort produced a progressive, cumulative and authoritative body of knowledge that we might think of as evaluation science? This is the question addressed by Ray Pawson in this sequel to Realistic Evaluation and Evidence-based Policy. In answer, he provides a detailed blueprint for an evaluation science based on realist principles.

Download or read book Doing Realist Research written by Nick Emmel and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2018-06-18 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together leading theorists, researchers and policy makers with expertise in using realist methods, this book is a definitive guide to putting realist methodologies into practice. Not just an overview of the field, this book looks to extend current debates and apply realist methods to new and practical challenges in social research. Featuring practical, worked examples of how to turn theory into evidence, it empowers readers not just to understand realist methods, but to use them. It will help readers: - Negotiate the complexity of relational systems - Understand the importance and relevance of cumulative theory - Address concerns over data sources and quality - Be flexible and creative in realist approaches - Produce useful evidence for policy. Sophisticated and globally minded, this book is the perfect addition to the ongoing development and application of realist methods across evaluation, synthesis, and social research.

Download or read book Evaluation for the 21st Century written by Eleanor Chelimsky and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1997-01-28 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluation for the 21st Century features thoughtfully written introductions to each of the main sections that provide a context and synthesis of the various evaluators' chapters. After reading this groundbreaking book, researchers and practitioners will be able to recognize these new developments in evaluation as they encounter them, place them in context, and incorporate them into their own evaluation professions and practices.

Download or read book Evidence Based Policy written by Ray Pawson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2006-04-07 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important new book, Ray Pawson examines the recent spread of evidence-based policy making across the Western world. Few major public initiatives are mounted these days in the absence of a sustained attempt to evaluate them. Programmes are tried, tried and tried again and researched, researched and researched again. And yet it is often difficult to know which interventions, and which inquiries, will withstand the test of time. The evident solution, going by the name of evidence-based policy, is to take the longer view. Rather than relying on one-off studies, it is wiser to look to the ′weight of evidence′. Accordingly, it is now widely agreed the most useful data to support policy decisions will be culled from systematic reviews of all the existing research in particular policy domains. This is the consensual starting point for Ray Pawson′s latest foray into the world of evaluative research. But this is social science after all and harmony prevails only in the first chapter. Thereafter, Pawson presents a devastating critique of the dominant approach to systematic review - namely the ′meta-analytic′ approach as sponsored by the Cochrane and Campbell collaborations. In its place is commended an approach that he terms ′realist synthesis′. On this vision, the real purpose of systematic review is better to understand programme theory, so that policies can be properly targeted and developed to counter an ever-changing landscape of social problems. The book will be essential reading for all those who loved (or loathed) the arguments developed in Realistic Evaluation (Sage, 1997). It offers a complete blueprint for research synthesis, supported by detailed illustrations and worked examples from across the policy waterfront. It will be of especial interest to policy-makers, practitioners, researchers and students working in health, education, employment, social care, criminal justice, regeneration and welfare.

Download or read book Realist Evaluation in Practice written by Mansoor A F Kazi and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2003-06-25 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title outlines the new, emerging realist paradigm in evaluation research & applies it to practice in human services. The author contributes to the development of this paradigm in practice & provides examples of realist evaluations.

Download or read book Realist Evaluation for Crime Science written by Graham Farrell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-17 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays, published to mark the 20th anniversary of Realistic Evaluation, celebrates the work of Professor Nick Tilley and his significant influence on the fields of policing, crime reduction and evaluation. With contributions from colleagues, co-authors and former students, many of whom are leading scholars in their own right, the thirteen essays which make up this volume contain both personal reflections and analysis of the prominent topics in Professor Tilley’s forty years of scholarship.

Download or read book Small Scale Evaluation written by Colin Robson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2000-02-11 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can evaluation be used most effectively, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods? Colin Robson provides guidance in a clear and uncluttered way. The issue of collaboration is examined step-by-step; stakeholder models are compared with techniques such as participatory evaluation and practitioner-centred action research; ethical and political considerations are placed in context; and the best ways of communicating findings are discussed. Each chapter is illustrated with helpful exercises to show the practical application of the issues covered, making this an invaluable introduction for anyone new to evaluation.

Download or read book Handbook Integrated Care written by Volker Amelung and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook gives profound insight into the main ideas and concepts of integrated care. It offers a managed care perspective with a focus on patient orientation, efficiency, and quality by applying widely recognized management approaches to the field of health care. The handbook also provides international best practices and shows how integrated care does work throughout various health systems. The delivery of health and social care is characterised by fragmentation and complexity in most health systems throughout the world. Therefore, much of the recent international discussion in the field of health policy and health management has focused on the topic of integrated care. “Integrated” acknowledges the complexity of patients ́ needs and aims to meet it by taking into account both health and social care aspects. Changing and improving processes in a coordinated way is at the heart of this approach.

Download or read book Realistic Evaluation written by Ray Pawson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1997-04-23 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Realistic Evaluation shows how program evaluation needs to be, and can be bettered. It presents a profound yet highly readable critique of current evaluation practice, and goes on to introduce a `manifesto′ and `handbook′ for a fresh approach. The main body of this book is devoted to the articulation of a new evaluation paradigm, which promises greater validity and utility from the findings of evaluation studies. The authors call this new approach `realistic evaluation′. The name reflects the paradigm′s foundation in scientific realist philosophy, its commitment to the idea that programmes deal with real problems rather than mere social constructions, and its primary intention, which is to inform realistic developments in policy making that benefit programme participants and the public. Ray Pawson and Nicholas Tilley argue with passion that scientific evaluation requires a careful blend of theory and method, quality and quantity, ambition and realism. The book offers a complete blueprint for evaluation activities, running from design to data collection and analysis to the cumulation of findings across programmes and onto the realization of research into policy. The argument is developed using practical examples throughout and is grounded in the major fields of programme evaluation. This book will be essential reading for all those involved in the evaluation process especially those researchers, students and practitioners in the core disciplines of sociology, social policy, criminology, health and education. `This book is a must for those engaged in the field, providing a fully illustrated text on evaluation with numerous examples from the criminal justice system. Unusually, it offers something for the academic, practitioner and student alike. I found Pawson and Tilley′s latest work on evaluation an enjoyable and informative read. For myself their "realistic evaluation" clarified and formalised a jumbled set of ideas I had already been developing. Although not everyone will agree with the methodology proposed by the authors, this book is a valuable read as it will cause most of us at least to review our methodological stance′ - International Journal of Police Science and Management `This is an engaging book with a strong sense of voice and communicative task. The voice is sometimes strident, but always clear. Its communicative qualities are evident equally in its structure: lots of signposting for the reader within and across chapters′ - Language Teaching Research `This provocative, elegant and highly insightful book focuses on the effective incorporation of actual practice into the formulation of evaluation methodology. What a pleasure to read sentences like: "The research act involves "learning" a stakeholder′s theories, formalizing them, and "teaching" them back to that informant who is then in a position to comment upon, clarify and further refine the key ideas". Pawson and Tilley have given us a wise, witty and persuasive account of how real practitioner experience might be encouraged to intrude on (and modify) researchers′ concepts about program processes and outcomes. This holds important promise for achieving something that is devoutly to be wished: closer interaction among at least some researchers and some policy makers′ - Eleanor Chelimsky, Past-President of the American Evaluation Association `This is a sustained methodological argument by two wordly-wise social scientists. Unashamedly intellectual, theoretically ambitious yet with a clear but bounded conception of evaluation. It is articulate, occasionally eloquent and always iconoclastic, whilst eschewing "paradigm wars". The Pawson and Tilley "realist" call to arms threatens to take no prisoners among experimentalists, constructivists or pluralists. It is the kind of book that clarifies your thoughts, even when you disagree with everything they say′ - Elliot Stern, The Tavistock Institute

Download or read book A Realist Approach for Qualitative Research written by Joseph A. Maxwell and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2012 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are cultural and material phenomena equally real? How can one study the relationships between cultural constructions, social behavior and material conditions and draw a valid conclusion from the data? In contrast to interpretive or constructivist positions, realism supports the insights of critical theory in social and educational research regarding the relationships between actors' perspectives and their actual situations, while avoiding the epistemological objectivism associated with positivism and some forms of post- positivist empiricism. This book will explain how readers can use realism to conceptualize and conduct their qualitative study to get results with greater validity.

Download or read book Realist Evaluation in Practice written by Mansoor A F Kazi and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2003-06-13 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ′The strengths of this book are the first two chapters outlining the issues around realist evaluation and the final chapter, as well as the use throughout the book of real-life examples... in conclusion this is a timely introductory text on the methods and methodology of realist evaluation′ - Critical Public Health Realist evaluation is an exciting new way to investigate what works, for whom and in what contexts and here for the first time, Mansoor A F Kazi shows how it applies to today′s practice in social work, health and other human services. To show how realist evaluation has the potential to change practice, the author provides in-depth examples of evaluation in adult rehabilitation, drug-using communities, users of family centres and an NSPCC project that provides services for children who sexually harm other children. Within these instances, realist evaluation procedures were integrated into the practice and decisions regarding the content and the targeting of services were developed effectively. Written in an engaging style, this book will be of value to social workers and all those engaged in service delivery or research across the spectrum of health and social care.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Evaluation written by Sandra Mathison and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2005 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Encyclopedia of Evaluation' recognises the growth of evaluation around the world & highlights all the major contributions to the field. There are over 400 entries organised alphabetically.

Download or read book A Realist Conception of Truth written by William P. Alston and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most important Anglo-American philosophers of our time here joins the current philosophical debate about the nature of truth. William P. Alston formulates and defends a realist conception of truth, which he calls alethic realism (from "aletheia," Greek for truth). This idea holds that the truth value of a statement (belief or proposition) depends on whether what the statement is about is as the statement says it is. Michael Dummett and Hilary Putnam are two of the prominent and widely influential contemporary philosophers whose anti-realist ideas Alston attacks.

Download or read book Realist Inquiry in Social Science written by Brian D. Haig and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2015-11-09 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Realist Inquiry in Social Science is an invaluable guide to conducting realist research. Written by highly regarded experts in the field, the first part of the book sets out the fundamentals necessary for rigorous realist research, while the second part deals with a number of its most important applications, discussing it in the context of case studies, action research and grounded theory amongst other approaches. Grounded in philosophical methodology, this book goes beyond understanding knowledge justification only as empirical validity, but instead emphasises the importance of theoretical criteria for all good research. The authors consider both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and approach methodology from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. Using abductive reasoning as the starting point for an insightful journey into realist inquiry, this book demonstrates that scientific realism continues to be of major relevance to the social sciences.

Download or read book Knowledge Translation in Health Care written by Sharon E. Straus and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-08-24 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Health care systems worldwide are faced with the challenge of improving the quality of care. Providing evidence from health research is necessary but not sufficient for the provision of optimal care and so knowledge translation (KT), the scientific study of methods for closing the knowledge-to-action gap and of the barriers and facilitators inherent in the process, is gaining significance. Knowledge Translation in Health Care explains how to use research findings to improve health care in real life, everyday situations. The authors define and describe knowledge translation, and outline strategies for successful knowledge translation in practice and policy making. The book is full of examples of how knowledge translation models work in closing the gap between evidence and action. Written by a team of authors closely involved in the development of knowledge translation this unique book aims to extend understanding and implementation worldwide. It is an introductory guide to an emerging hot topic in evidence-based care and essential for health policy makers, researchers, managers, clinicians and trainees.

Download or read book Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Clinical Competence E Book written by Eric S. Holmboe and published by Elsevier Health Sciences. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to help medical educators implement better assessment methods, tools, and models directly into training programs, Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Clinical Competence, 2nd Edition, by Drs. Eric S. Holmboe, Steven J. Durning, and Richard E. Hawkins, is a hands-on, authoritative guide to outcomes-based assessment in clinical education. National and international experts present an organized, multifaceted approach and a diverse combination of methods to help you perform effective assessments. This thoroughly revised edition is a valuable resource for developing, implementing, and sustaining effective systems for evaluating clinical competence in medical school, residency, and fellowship programs. - Each chapter provides practical suggestions and assessment models that can be implemented directly into training programs, tools that can be used to measure clinical performance, overviews of key educational theories, and strengths and weaknesses of every method. - Guidelines that apply across the medical education spectrum allow you to implement the book's methods in any educational situation. - New chapters on high-quality assessment of clinical reasoning and assessment of procedural competence, as well as a new chapter on practical approaches to feedback. - Reorganized for ease of use, with expanded coverage of Milestones/Entrustable Professional Assessments (EPAs), cognitive assessment techniques, work-based procedural assessments, and frameworks. - The expert editorial team, renowned leaders in assessment, is joined by global leader in medical education and clinical reasoning, Dr. Steven Durning. - New Expert Consult material includes videos of medical interviewing scenarios and downloadable assessment tools.