The Evaluation Handbook: An Evaluator's Companion
Top Insights
New York: Guilford Press (2025), xvii, 606 pp.
Contains glossary, index
ISBN 978-1-4625-3734-1 (hbk)
"This pragmatic evaluator's companion from leaders in the field provides essential guidance for designing, implementing, and managing exemplary evaluations using established and emerging methods, designs, and analyses. With contributions from skilled experts, the Handbook has a unique focus on the competencies identified by the American Evaluation Association as critical for evaluators. Balancing rigor with practical, mentor-style guidance, chapters build the reader's skills for tailoring studies creatively to address specific evaluation situations and contexts; optimizing communication and collaborative decision making; and centering equity and justice. This insiders guide is replete with detailed examples, real-world scenarios, and other helpful features, including chapter overviews and an end-of-book glossary." (Publisher description)
I. FOUNDATION FOR THE VOLUME
1 Setting the Stage: Supporting the Diverse Knowledge and Skills Evaluators Need in an Ever-Changing Context / Debra J. Rog & Leonard Bickman sample, 3
2 Competencies for Program Evaluators / Jean A. King, 18
II. EVALUATION THEORIES, FOUNDATIONS, PRINCIPLES, AND PURPOSE
3 Evaluative Thinking: Understanding and Applying the Foundations of Evaluation / Thomas Archibald, Jane Buckley, & Guy O'Grady Sharrock, 35
4 Evaluation Theories: Guidance to Evaluating in Various Circumstances / Melvin M. Mark, 55
5 Valuing in Evaluation / Emily F. Gates & Thomas A. Schwandt, 81
6 Equity in Evaluation / Donna Durant Atkinson, 101
7 Ethical Challenges / Michael Morris, 125
8 Fostering Evaluation Use / Marvin C. Alkin & Anne T. Vo, 141
9 Illuminating Evaluation's Kaleidoscope: Beautiful, Diverse, Ever-Changing Manifestations / Michael Quinn Patton, 159
III. ANSWERING EVALUATION QUESTIONS: DESIGNS, METHODS, AND ANALYSES
10 Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation: From Community Consultation to Community Control / David Fetterman, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, & Ann Zukoski, 181
11 Making the Most of Evaluations: Strategies for Assessing Program Evaluability and Evaluation Feasibility / Debra J. Rog, 208
12 Monitoring Program Implementation / Byron J. Powell, Leonard Bickman, & Kimberly E. Hoagwood, 230
13 Examining Outcomes and Impacts: Designs and Strategies in Theory and Practice / Laura R. Peck & R. Bradley Snyder, 254
14 Combining Costs and Results: Designs, Strategies, and Analysis / Robert Shand, A. Brooks Bowden, & Henry Levin, 270
15 Evaluation as Storytelling: Using a Qualitative Design / Sharon Rallis & Janet Usinger, 288
16 Planning, Data Collection, and Data Preparation for Quantitative Analysis / Erica Harbatkin, Gary T. Henry, & Lam D. Pham, 308
17 Conducting a Quantitative Analysis / Lam D. Pham, Gary T. Henry, & Erica Harbatkin, 325
18 Mixed Methods Design / Tarek Azzam & Natalie Jones, 344
IV. PLANNING, MANAGING, AND IMPLEMENTING EVALUATIONS
19 Designing and Planning an Evaluation: Beyond Methods / Darlene F. Russ-Eft, 365
20 Logic Models and Program Theory / Joy Frechtling, 383
21 Resource Planning / Leonard Bickman, 398
22 The Role of an Internal Evaluator / Arnold Love, 426
23 The Independent Consultant: An Insider's Guide to a Consulting Career / Gail Vallance Barrington, 445
24 Conducting Evaluations under Budget, Time, and Data Constraints: An International Perspective / Michael Bamberger, 465
V. CROSSCUTTING ISSUES
25 Communicating with Stakeholders / Glenn O'Neil, 491
26 Information Visualization and Evaluation / Tarek Azzam, Sarah Douville, Ciara Knight, Piper Grandjean Targos, & Natalie Jones, 509
27 Exemplary Evaluations in a Multicultural World / Stewart I. Donaldson, 532
1 Setting the Stage: Supporting the Diverse Knowledge and Skills Evaluators Need in an Ever-Changing Context / Debra J. Rog & Leonard Bickman sample, 3
2 Competencies for Program Evaluators / Jean A. King, 18
II. EVALUATION THEORIES, FOUNDATIONS, PRINCIPLES, AND PURPOSE
3 Evaluative Thinking: Understanding and Applying the Foundations of Evaluation / Thomas Archibald, Jane Buckley, & Guy O'Grady Sharrock, 35
4 Evaluation Theories: Guidance to Evaluating in Various Circumstances / Melvin M. Mark, 55
5 Valuing in Evaluation / Emily F. Gates & Thomas A. Schwandt, 81
6 Equity in Evaluation / Donna Durant Atkinson, 101
7 Ethical Challenges / Michael Morris, 125
8 Fostering Evaluation Use / Marvin C. Alkin & Anne T. Vo, 141
9 Illuminating Evaluation's Kaleidoscope: Beautiful, Diverse, Ever-Changing Manifestations / Michael Quinn Patton, 159
III. ANSWERING EVALUATION QUESTIONS: DESIGNS, METHODS, AND ANALYSES
10 Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation: From Community Consultation to Community Control / David Fetterman, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, & Ann Zukoski, 181
11 Making the Most of Evaluations: Strategies for Assessing Program Evaluability and Evaluation Feasibility / Debra J. Rog, 208
12 Monitoring Program Implementation / Byron J. Powell, Leonard Bickman, & Kimberly E. Hoagwood, 230
13 Examining Outcomes and Impacts: Designs and Strategies in Theory and Practice / Laura R. Peck & R. Bradley Snyder, 254
14 Combining Costs and Results: Designs, Strategies, and Analysis / Robert Shand, A. Brooks Bowden, & Henry Levin, 270
15 Evaluation as Storytelling: Using a Qualitative Design / Sharon Rallis & Janet Usinger, 288
16 Planning, Data Collection, and Data Preparation for Quantitative Analysis / Erica Harbatkin, Gary T. Henry, & Lam D. Pham, 308
17 Conducting a Quantitative Analysis / Lam D. Pham, Gary T. Henry, & Erica Harbatkin, 325
18 Mixed Methods Design / Tarek Azzam & Natalie Jones, 344
IV. PLANNING, MANAGING, AND IMPLEMENTING EVALUATIONS
19 Designing and Planning an Evaluation: Beyond Methods / Darlene F. Russ-Eft, 365
20 Logic Models and Program Theory / Joy Frechtling, 383
21 Resource Planning / Leonard Bickman, 398
22 The Role of an Internal Evaluator / Arnold Love, 426
23 The Independent Consultant: An Insider's Guide to a Consulting Career / Gail Vallance Barrington, 445
24 Conducting Evaluations under Budget, Time, and Data Constraints: An International Perspective / Michael Bamberger, 465
V. CROSSCUTTING ISSUES
25 Communicating with Stakeholders / Glenn O'Neil, 491
26 Information Visualization and Evaluation / Tarek Azzam, Sarah Douville, Ciara Knight, Piper Grandjean Targos, & Natalie Jones, 509
27 Exemplary Evaluations in a Multicultural World / Stewart I. Donaldson, 532
