Evaluating the performance of nonprofit organizations has been of growing importance for the last several decades. Although there is much good that can come out of self-improvement, there is substantial heterogeneity within the sector that calls into question the usefulness of "across the board" evaluation tools. In this article, the authors…

This article examines evaluation field building in South Asia and the role of international collaboration in this field building. The article explores aspects of the supply and demand of development evaluation and the political, historical, and systemic factors that bridge or block evaluation use. The article calls for and suggests elements to…

How do evaluators make decisions about how to approach an evaluation in their everyday practice? What are the bases for evaluators' approach choices? In what ways do evaluators think about evaluation models? The evaluation literature remains unclear about what specific information evaluators consider when making decisions in response to everyday…

Prior evaluations of evaluation theory have been problematic due in part to confusion about what exactly is being assessed. After drawing distinctions among evaluation theories, models, and approaches, the author examines three aspects of evaluation models and considers how the evaluation of a model depends on which aspect is being examined. The…

This article outlines an attempt at realizing mutuality between evaluation and action science in feedback within an aspiring principal leadership development programme in New Zealand. The evaluation was specifically designed to overcome the formative-summative divide through ongoing, often immediate, dialogue using an action science approach. The…

Evaluation scholars have long called for research on evaluation to provide an empirical basis for improving its theory and practice. Although calls to investigate evaluation have struck a chord in some quarters of the evaluation community, with the exception of research in the area of evaluation use, these calls have been infrequently answered.…

Increasingly, staff members in community and public health programs and projects are required to undertake evaluation activities. There is, however, limited capacity for, and understanding of, evaluation within this workforce. Building the capability of individual workers and thereby contributing to the overall capacity among the community and…

Examining evaluation theory in cultural context is an important component of evaluating theory; however, it is not the ultimate goal. The foundational element in good evaluation is validity, and appreciating the cultural location of evaluation theory is an important building block in the argument supporting multicultural validity. Multicultural…

To describe the recent practice of evaluation, specifically method and design choices, the authors performed a content analysis on 117 evaluation studies published in eight North American evaluation-focused journals for a 3-year period (2004-2006). The authors chose this time span because it follows the scientifically based research (SBR)…

This article introduces a new approach to program theory evaluation called theory-based stakeholder evaluation or the TSE model for short. Most theory-based approaches are program theory driven and some are stakeholder oriented as well. Practically, all of the latter fuse the program perceptions of the various stakeholder groups into one unitary…

There is growing interest in the concept of "mechanism" across many areas of the social sciences. In the field of program and policy evaluation, a number of scholars have also emphasized the importance of causal mechanisms for explaining how and why programs work. However, there appears to be some ambiguity about the meaning and uses of…

Over the past two decades, there has been tension underscoring the nature, role, and importance of theory in the evaluation field. Some notable evaluation scholars contend that there is little need for evaluation theory and that good evaluative practice can occur with little or no regard to evaluation theory. Yet, others maintain that evaluation…

Evaluations of complex interventions such as sentencing guidelines provide an opportunity to understand the mechanisms by which policies and programs can impact intermediate and long-term outcomes. There is limited previous discussion of the underlying frameworks by which sentencing guidelines can impact outcomes such as crime rates. Guided by a…

Evaluation studies are often considered exemplary because of the quality of their designs, but it is well known that a common--and often necessary--aspect of outstanding studies is stakeholder involvement. Furthermore, the implementation of designs and the nature of stakeholder involvement depend in large part on political and ideological…

One of the challenges facing program evaluation education is how to bridge the need to train students in theoretical and methodological foundations, and also prepare them for the unpredictability and complex environment outside the classroom. This issue is particularly challenging in terms of understanding stakeholder values and interests. The…