Evaluation for the 21st Century : A Handbook

What methodological tools have been most useful in doing evaluation? What are some of the new methodologies that are being used and developed? Will the types of things evaluated expand from programs, personnel, and products to foreign aid, medical technology, environmental interventions, and World Bank loan programs? What will evaluation be like in the 21st century? These impressive evaluators from around the globe explore how evaluation has come to be what it is today and what the professional evaluation landscape will be like in the future. They examine the following: -What makes evaluation different from other disciplines? -The links and differences between evaluation and auditing professions? -Which activities have priority in evaluation, under what circumstances, and for what purposes? -New methodological approaches to doing evaluation. -The issues of advocacy versus truth in evaluation and between evaluating programs versus empowering people to evaluate their own programs. 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. A stunning achievement, Evaluation for the 21st Century is for all professionals and practitioners in evaluation, management, public administration, sociology, psychology, education research, public health, and nursing.