ERIC Number: ED121557
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1976
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Alternative Modes of Evaluation and Their Application to Rural Development.
Wetherill, G. Richard; Buttram, Joan L.
In order to "cut through the jargon of the multifaceted field of evaluative research", 21 evaluation models representing a range of possibilities were identified (via literature review) and compared in terms of purpose and five basic phases applicable to rural development. Evaluation was defined as "the systematic examination of a program in operation for the purpose of improvement", and rural development was identified as encompassing programs directed at reducing rural/urban disparities via planned change. Attempting to utilize a common framework or sequence of phases, each model was compared via the following base phases: (1) Program Descriptions (description of goals, objectives, operation, environment, etc.); (2) Criteria Formulation (critical program areas identified and performance standards established); (3) Evidence Gathering (data collected for each of the specified evaluative criteria, instruments constructed, and appropriate statistical analyses made); (4) Judgment Making (judgment of criteria against data to determine program performance as minimum, expected, or exceptional); (5) Dissemination (summative and formative evaluations utilized by program operators and/or others). The imPlications for rural development were identified in terms of facilitating program change, improvement, monitoring, and/or justification. (JC)
Descriptors: Comparative Analysis, Concept Formation, Data Analysis, Data Collection, Decision Making, Evaluation, Evaluation Criteria, Formative Evaluation, Information Dissemination, Literature Reviews, Models, Program Descriptions, Research Methodology, Rural Development, Summative Evaluation, Synthesis, Tables (Data)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Texas A and M Univ., College Station. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.; Southern Rural Development Center, State College, MS.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A