Book Review: Evaluation Methodology Basics: The Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0700700112 |
| Author | Colin Sharp |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews 59
model of evaluation made up of
four communities: policymakers,
service users, evaluators, and the
media (Walker and Wiseman).
Other chapters cover practical
guidelines for communicating
evaluation (Alkin, Christie and
Rose) and discerning quality in
evaluation (Stake and Schwandt).
In the concluding chapter to
this part, Lois-ellin Datta looks
at some challenges that still
remain. For example, she asks
a question that often occurs to
me in the Australian and New
Zealand context: Is there too
much evaluation, and are the
benefi ts worth the costs involved,
particularly the burden on
service providers to participate
and provide data?
The last part of the book
looks at different domains
of evaluation practice, with
rewarding chapters on the
evaluation in education and
health services, social work and
the human services, criminal
justice, and international
development and humanitarian
action. The fi nal chapter (Clarke)
considers the application of
evidence-based evaluation
in different domains, and
in particular the extent that
experimental evaluation can be
transferred from clinical settings
to the evaluation of social
interventions.
The judgement of whether
the Handbook has achieved a
defi nitive and comprehensive
account of evaluation must
be to some extent in the eye
of the beholder. My partial
and personal view is that it
does very well. I found within
various chapters, discussions of
issues that I think are important
in contemporary evaluation:
evidence-based policy, the use
of program theory, evaluation
and indigenous peoples, and
the rapid rise of evaluation
associations around the world.
I also enjoyed the thoughtful
review of ethics in evaluation
by Helen Simons. On the
other hand, to my mind some
important trends that appear
to get little mention are the
application of systems thinking
to evaluation, and the use of
economic evaluation in assessing
delivery of human service
programs. No doubt other
readers will fi nd issues that are
important to them and possibly
omissions.
Finally, the Handbook’s
aim of depicting evaluation
Title: Evaluation Methodology Basics: The Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation
Author: E Jane Davidson
Publisher: Sage, Thousand Oaks, California
Publication date: 2005
Extent/type: 263 pages, paperback
Price: A$66 from Footprint Books which offers a 15% discount to AES members, phone (02) 9997 3973
ISBN: 0-7619-3930-4
Like the followers of Michael
Sciven’s (2005) evaluation
logic and Daniel Stuffl ebeam’s
(1999) checklists, I welcome
this student-friendly text to
complement my favourite
checklists. This text develops
the core checklist framework to
provide evaluation methodology
basics for, presumably mainly,
introductory courses on program
evaluation.
Reviewed by:
Chris Milne
Fellow of AES;
Principal, ARTD, PO Box 216,
Haberfi eld, NSW 2045.
Email: <chris.milne@artd.com.au>
as coherent remains open to
question. It seems to rely on the
inductive argument made by a
number of contributors that,
after all, we attend evaluation
conferences, join evaluation
associations, and, implicitly,
read this Handbook. However,
coherent or not, in my view the
Handbook is very successful
in presenting an accurate,
well-informed and authentic
picture of evaluation in the
early 21st century and its likely
future directions. Readers in
the evaluation community
should fi nd many of the essays
stimulating and rewarding.
According to the author:
The purpose of this book is
to provide a ‘nuts-and-bolts’
guide that covers some of the
practical and methodological
basics of doing an evaluation.
It is designed to lead the
evaluation team … through
the steps involved in doing a
good evaluation. The focus
is on evaluation-specifi c
logic and methodology
… rather than on what is
already covered well in social
science research texts (e.g.
the development of measures
and instruments for collecting
data). (p. xii)
This approach is both a
strength and weakness of the
book. While it is important
to be clear about the focus,
To continue reading
Request your trial