Encyclopedia of Evaluation

All humans are nascent evaluators. Evaluation has been with us throughout history, and in its modern form has moved from the margins to the centers of organizations, agencies, educational institutions, and corporate boardrooms. No longer a specialized, part-time activity, evaluation has become institutionalized, a common practice, and indeed an important commodity in political and social life.

The Encyclopedia of Evaluation is an authoritative, first-of-its-kind who, what, where, why, and how of the field of evaluation. Covering professional practice as well as academia, this volume chronicles the development of the field—its history, key figures, theories, approaches, and goals. From the leading publisher in the field of evaluation, this work is a must-have for all social science libraries, departments that offer courses in evaluation, and students and professional evaluators around the world.

The entries in this Encyclopedia capture the essence of evaluation as a practice (methods, techniques, roles, people), as a profession (professional obligations, shared knowledge, ethical imperatives, events, places) and as a discipline (theories and models of evaluation, ontological and epistemological issues).

International Scope

Despite the fact that evaluation practice is not institutionalized in the same way around the world, the encyclopedia recognizes the international growth of the profession, due in large part to organizations such as UNICEF, the World Bank, and USAID. Entries cover the following: Afghanistan, Belgium, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Israel, Netherlands, Niger, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and Uganda.

In addition, the international group of authors includes contributions from more than a dozen nations. There are a number of stories about evaluation practice around the world that are set off as sidebars in the text. These stories provide a glimpse into the nature of evaluation practice in a diverse set of circumstances, delineate the common and uncommon issues for evaluators around the world, and point to the complexities of importing evaluation from one culture to another.

Interdisciplinary Methodological Coverage

Much of the practice of evaluation has grown out of the social science research tradition. While psychological methods and psychometrics continue to be useful, evaluation research today draws from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, education, political science, literary criticism, systems theory, and others. This Encyclopedia covers all of the relevant methodologies, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Evaluators and Theories

The Encyclopedia of Evaluation includes significant coverage of the major figures in the field throughout its history. Many of these figures are well known for a particular theory or approach, and whenever applicable, the entries make this connection for the reader as well as provide references for further reading. Good examples include Michael Quinn Patton and Utilization-Focused Evaluation, David Fetterman and Empowerment Evaluation, Daniel Stufflebeam′s CIPP Model of Evaluation, and Huey Chen and Theory-driven Evaluations.

Key Themes

• Concepts, Evaluation

• Concepts, Methodological

• Concepts, Philosophical

• Concepts, Social Science

• Ethics and Standards

• Evaluation Approaches and Models

• Evaluation around the World, Stories

• Evaluation Planning

• Evaluation Theory

• Laws and Legislation

• Organizations

• People

• Publications

• Qualitative Methods

• Quantitative Methods

• Representation, Reporting, Communicating

• Systems

• Technology

• Utilization

Key Features

• More than 100 contributors from around the world

• Single, affordable volume with nearly 600 entries arranged alphabetically

• Entries written by an international team of experts, including narratives that depict evaluation practice around the world

• Reader′s Guide arranges entries into 18 thematic categories to facilitate browsing among core topics

Editorial Board

Ross Connor, University of California, Irvine

Lois-Ellin Datta, Consultant

Melissa Freeman, University at Albany

Rodney Hopson, Duquesne University

Saville Kushner, University of the West of England, U.K.

Yvonna S. Lincoln, Texas A&M University

Cheryl MacNeil, Community Activist and Evaluation Consultant

Donna M. Mertens, Gallaudet University, Washington DC

James Mugaju, UNICEF

Zenda Ofir, EvalNet

Michael Quinn Patton, Union Institute and University

Hallie Preskill, University of New Mexico

Debra Rog, Vanderbilt University

Patricia Rogers, Evaluation Practitioner, Researcher, and Educator

Thomas A. Schwandt, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Michael Scriven, Auckland University, New Zealand

Elizabeth Whitmore, Carleton University, Canada