Download or read book Actionable Evaluation Basics written by William Shakespeare and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Avoid getting lost in indicators, measures, and analysis methods; use this guide to get clear, well-reasoned, insightful answers to your most important questions about quality and value. Great tips for reporting that is succinct and straight-to-the-point without falling into the trap of oversimplification. This easy-to-read, informative minibook provides an overview of the six elements essential for actionable evaluation, as covered in Dr. Jane Davidson's popular workshops on Actionable Evaluation: (1) a clear purpose for the evaluation; (2) the right stakeholder engagement strategy; (3) important, big picture evaluation questions to guide the whole evaluation; (4) well-reasoned answers to the big picture questions; (5) succinct, straight to the point reporting that doesn't get lost in the details; and (6) answers and insights that are actionable.
Download or read book Evaluation Methodology Basics written by E. Jane Davidson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2005 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluation Methodology Basics introduces evaluation by focusing on the main kinds of 'big picture' questions that evaluations usually need to answer, and how the nature of such questions are linked to evaluation methodology choices. The author: shows how to identify the right criteria for your evaluation; discusses how to objectively figure out which criteria are more important than the others; and, delves into how to combine a mix of qualitative and quantitative data with 'relevant values' (such as needs) to draw explicitly evaluative conclusions.
Download or read book Credible and Actionable Evidence written by Stewart I. Donaldson and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-09-10 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing one of the most important and contentious issues challenging applied research and evaluation practice today—what constitutes credible and actionable evidence?—this volume offers a balanced and current context in which to analyze the long-debated quantitative-qualitative paradigms. In the Second Edition, the contributors, a veritable “who’s who” in evaluation, discuss the diversity and changing nature of credible and actionable evidence; offer authoritative guidance about using credible and actionable evidence; explain how to use it to provide rigorous and influential evaluations; and include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation to suggest ways to address the key issues and challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in the field and covering both experimental and non-experimental methods, the new edition includes revised and updated chapters, summaries of strengths and weaknesses across varied approaches, and contains diverse definitions of evidence. Also included are two new chapters on assessing credibility and synthesizing evidence for policy makers. This is a valuable resource for students and others interested in how to best study and evaluate programs, policies, organizations, and other initiatives designed to improve aspects of the human condition and societal well-being.
Download or read book Evaluation Basics 2nd Edition written by Donald V. McCain and published by Association for Talent Development. This book was released on 2016-06-27 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your training: Do they love it or live it? How do training professionals show the impact their programs are making? Positive feedback only goes so far in confirming success. And entertainment value, while important, isn't the truest measure of your effectiveness. To find out whether your participants are applying what they’ve learned on the job, you need a good evaluation strategy—one that connects evaluation to performance, program design, and bottom-line value. Each chapter of Evaluation Basics focuses on a critical aspect of developing and implementing an evaluation plan for a face-to-face or virtual training program. You’ll not only learn about the methods and instruments you can use to determine the value of your program, but you’ll also get help effectively communicating results. Part of ATD’s Training Basics series, the second edition of Evaluation Basics offers practical examples, worksheets, and new case studies to further your understanding.
Download or read book Introduction to Theory Driven Program Evaluation written by Stewart I. Donaldson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to Theory-Driven Program Evaluation provides a clear guide for practicing evaluation science, and numerous examples of how these evaluations actually unfold in contemporary practice. A special emphasis is placed how to conduct theory-driven program evaluations that are culturally responsive and strengths-focused. In this thoroughly revised new edition, author Stewart I. Donaldson provides a state-of-the art treatment of the basics of conducting theory-driven program evaluations. Each case follows a three-step model: developing program impact theory; formulating and prioritizing evaluation questions; and answering evaluation questions. The initial chapters discuss the evolution and popularity of theory-driven program evaluation, as well as step-by-step guide for culturally responsive and strengths-focused applications. Succeeding chapters provide actual cases and discuss the practical implications of theory-driven evaluation science. Reflections, challenges, and lessons learned across numerous cases from practices are discussed. The volume is of significant value to practicing evaluators, professors of introductory evaluation courses and their students, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and serves as a text or a supplementary text for a wide range of evaluation and applied research courses. It is also of great interest to those interested in the connections between work and health, well-being, career development, human service organizations, and organizational improvement and effectiveness.
Download or read book Evaluation Fundamentals Insights into the Outcomes Effectiveness and Quality of Health Programs written by Arlene Fink and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2005 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arlene Fink outlines the basic concepts & vocabulary necessary for programme evaluation & illustrates how to review the quality of evaluation research so as to make informed decisions about methods & outcomes.
Download or read book Utilization Focused Evaluation written by Michael Quinn Patton and published by SAGE Publications, Incorporated. This book was released on 1986 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of Patton's classic text retains the practical advice, based on empirical observation and evaluation theory, of the original. It shows how to conduct an evaluation, from beginning to end, in a way that will be useful -- and actually used. Patton believes that evaluation epitomizes the challenges of producing and using information in the information age. His latest book includes new stories, new examples, new research findings, and more of Patton's evaluation humour. He adds to the original book's insights and analyses of the changes in evaluation during the past decade, including: the emergence of evaluation as a field of professional practice; articulation of standards for evaluation; a methodological synthesis of the qualitative versus quantitative debate; the tremendous growth of 'in-house' evaluations; and the cross-cultural development of evaluation as a profession. This edition also incorporates the considerable research done on utilization during the last ten years. Patton integrates diverse findings into a coherent framework which includes: articulation of utilization-focused evaluation premises; examination of the stakeholder assumption; and clarification of the meaning of utilization. --Publisher description.
Download or read book The Goldilocks Challenge written by Mary Kay Gugerty and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-02 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social sector provides services to a wide range of people throughout the world with the aim of creating social value. While doing good is great, doing it well is even better. These organizations, whether nonprofit, for-profit, or public, increasingly need to demonstrate that their efforts are making a positive impact on the world, especially as competition for funding and other scarce resources increases. This heightened focus on impact is positive: learning whether we are making a difference enhances our ability to address pressing social problems effectively and is critical to wise stewardship of resources. Yet demonstrating efficacy remains a big hurdle for most organizations. The Goldilocks Challenge provides a parsimonious framework for measuring the strategies and impact of social sector organizations. A good data strategy starts first with a sound theory of change that helps organizations decide what elements they should monitor and measure. With a theory of change providing solid underpinning, the Goldilocks framework then puts forward four key principles, the CART principles: Credible data that are high quality and analyzed appropriately, Actionable data will actually influence future decisions; Responsible data create more benefits than costs; and Transportable data build knowledge that can be used in the future and by others. Mary Kay Gugerty and Dean Karlan combine their extensive experience working with nonprofits, for-profits and government with their understanding of measuring effectiveness in this insightful guide to thinking about and implementing evidence-based change. This book is an invaluable asset for nonprofit, social enterprise and government leaders, managers, and funders-including anyone considering making a charitable contribution to a nonprofit-to ensure that these organizations get it "just right" by knowing what data to collect, how to collect it, how it can be analyzed, and drawing implications from the analysis. Everyone who wants to make positive change should focus on the top priority: using data to learn, innovate, and improve program implementation over time. Gugerty and Karlan show how.
Download or read book The Human Resources Program Evaluation Handbook written by Jack E. Edwards and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2003-07-22 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Human Resources Program-Evaluation Handbook is the first book to present state-of-the-art procedures for evaluating and improving human resources programs. Editors Jack E. Edwards, John C. Scott, and Nambury S. Raju provide a user-friendly yet scientifically rigorous "how to" guide to organizational program-evaluation. Integrating perspectives from a variety of human resources and organizational behavior programs, a wide array of contributing professors, consultants, and governmental personnel successfully link scientific information to practical application. Designed for academics and graduate students in industrial-organizational psychology, human resources management, and business, the handbook is also an essential resource for human resources professionals, consultants, and policy makers.
Download or read book Credible and Actionable Evidence written by Stewart I. Donaldson and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-09-10 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing one of the most important and contentious issues challenging applied research and evaluation practice today—what constitutes credible and actionable evidence?—this volume offers a balanced and current context in which to analyze the long-debated quantitative-qualitative paradigms. In the Second Edition, the contributors, a veritable “who’s who” in evaluation, discuss the diversity and changing nature of credible and actionable evidence; offer authoritative guidance about using credible and actionable evidence; explain how to use it to provide rigorous and influential evaluations; and include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation to suggest ways to address the key issues and challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in the field and covering both experimental and non-experimental methods, the new edition includes revised and updated chapters, summaries of strengths and weaknesses across varied approaches, and contains diverse definitions of evidence. Also included are two new chapters on assessing credibility and synthesizing evidence for policy makers. This is a valuable resource for students and others interested in how to best study and evaluate programs, policies, organizations, and other initiatives designed to improve aspects of the human condition and societal well-being.
Download or read book Handbook of Action Research written by Peter Reason and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2006-01-17 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the Handbook of Action Research hailed as a turning point in how action research is framed and understood by scholars, this student edition has been structured to provide an easy inroad into the field for researchers and students. It includes concise chapter summaries and an informative introduction that draws together the different strands of action research and reveals their diverse applications as well as their interrelations. Divided into four parts, there are important themes of thinking and practice running throughout.
Download or read book Sensory Evaluation Practices written by Herbert Stone and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2012-12-02 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sensory Evaluation Practices examines the principles and practices of sensory evaluation. It describes methods and procedures for the analysis of results from sensory tests; explains the reasons for selecting a particular procedure or test method; and discusses the organization and operation of a testing program, the design of a test facility, and the interpretation of results. Comprised of three parts encompassing nine chapters, this volume begins with an overview of sensory evaluation: what it does; how, where, and for whom; and its origin in physiology and psychology. It then discusses measurement, psychological errors in testing, statistics, test strategy, and experimental design. The reader is also introduced to the discrimination, descriptive, and affective methods of testing, along with the criteria used to select a specific method, procedures for data analysis, and the communication of actionable results. The book concludes by looking at problems where sensory evaluation is applicable, including correlation of instrumental and sensory data, measurement of perceived efficacy, storage testing, and product optimization. This book is a valuable resource for sensory professionals, product development and production specialists, research directors, technical managers, and professionals involved in marketing, marketing research, and advertising.
Download or read book Evaluation Basics written by Jacqueline B. Kosecoff and published by . This book was released on with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A step-by-step guide through the process of programme evaluation which takes into account all the evaluator's roles -- not just as researcher, but as negotiator, administrator and organizer, writer, and communicator. Kosekoff and Fink offer some of the techniques that have proven useful in their own professional evaluation practice. They show how to appraise a programme's merit, and provide information about its goals, expectations, outcomes, impact and costs.
Download or read book Performance focused Smile Sheets written by Will Thalheimer and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, "Performance-Focused Smile Sheets," completely reimagines the smile sheet as an essential tool to drive performance improvement. Traditional smile sheets (i.e., learner response forms, student reaction forms) don't work! Decades of practice shows them to have negligible benefits. Scientific studies prove that traditional smile sheets are not correlated with learning results! Yet still we rely on smile sheets to make critical decisions about our learning interventions. In this book, Dr. Will Thalheimer carefully builds the case for a new methodology in smile-sheet design. Based on the learning research, "Performance-Focused Smile Sheets" shows how to write better questions, more focused on performance. The book also shows how to deploy smile sheets to our learners to get valid feedback--feedback that can be used to help us as trainers, instructional designers, teachers, professors, eLearning developers, and chief learning officers build virtuous cycles of continuous improvement.
Download or read book Evaluation Fundamentals written by Arlene Fink and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-02-25 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Third Edition of Arlene Fink’s Evaluation Fundamentals teaches the basic concepts and vocabulary necessary to do program evaluations and review the quality of evaluation research to make informed decisions about methods and outcomes to meet scientific and community needs. Dr. Fink thoroughly examines such issues as how to justify evaluation questions and set standards of effectiveness, design studies, identify best practices, and conduct ethical research. The book contains numerous examples of evaluation methods, as well as evaluation reports. It also includes practice exercises and suggested readings in print and online. Individuals can use the New Edition successfully on their own or in small or large groups. “The text is extremely well organized. . . The concepts are easy to follow and the explanations are excellent.” —Sharon K. Drake, Iowa State University “Dr. Fink did an outstanding job of introducing concepts and practice of program evaluation in a way that anyone can understand. Those who are interested in program evaluation will enjoy this book regardless of their field of study.” —Young Ik Cho, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee “The key strength of this book is the introduction of the key concepts, terms, and considerations that are needed for an evaluation study. These introductions are concise, understandable, and in logical order.” —Richard C. Maurer, University of Kentucky
Download or read book Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning written by Carl Patton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-26 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated in its 3rd edition, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning presents quickly applied methods for analyzing and resolving planning and policy issues at state, regional, and urban levels. Divided into two parts, Methods which presents quick methods in nine chapters and is organized around the steps in the policy analysis process, and Cases which presents seven policy cases, ranging in degree of complexity, the text provides readers with the resources they need for effective policy planning and analysis. Quantitative and qualitative methods are systematically combined to address policy dilemmas and urban planning problems. Readers and analysts utilizing this text gain comprehensive skills and background needed to impact public policy.
Download or read book Handbook on Measurement Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education written by Charles Secolsky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 1112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this valuable resource, well-known scholars present a detailed understanding of contemporary theories and practices in the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation, with guidance on how to apply these ideas for the benefit of students and institutions. Bringing together terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances, this second edition facilitates informed decision-making while connecting the latest thinking in these methodological areas with actual practice in higher education. This research handbook provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers, and faculty with an integrated volume of theory, method, and application.
