Book Review: RealWorld Evaluation: Working under Budget, Time, Data and Political Constraints
| Author | Sue Funnell |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0700700107 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
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BOOK REVIEWS
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007
Description of the book
This book is directed at those
who conduct, commission and
use evaluations working under
budget, time, data and political
constraints, that is, almost anyone
involved in evaluation! It is also
directed to those who teach
evaluation, as a useful reference
on evaluation methodology. The
book aims to address the needs
of those who are relatively new
to evaluation who could use the
book as an introductory text
and also the needs of those more
experienced and formally trained
practitioners who may wish to
delve into special issues involved
in conducting ‘RealWorld’
evaluations (‘RealWorld
Evaluation’ is a term the authors
have coined).
The authors draw on their
experience in conducting
evaluations both in developed
and developing countries.
They identify the constraints of
RealWorld evaluations and the
threats that those constraints
pose for methodological rigour
and the validity of conclusions,
and suggest a wide range of ways
to address those constraints to
strengthen evaluation design and
thereby improve the validity of
the conclusions.
The RealWorld Evaluation
(RWE) approach described in
the book ‘does not claim to have
invented any new evaluation
methods. What we have done
is to show how standard
evaluation tools and techniques
can be integrated into a seven-
step approach for conducting
evaluations under RealWorld
constraints. A central premise
is the value of mixed-method
evaluations that combine
quantitative and qualitative
approaches and methods so as
to draw on the strengths of both
approaches while compensating
for the weaknesses of either
approach if used in isolation.
The introduction to the
book describes how the book
is organised and provides a
reader’s guide to using the book,
taking into consideration the
different interests of the wide
variety of audiences to whom
the book is addressed.
The book has four parts:
■ Chapter 1: Overview of
RWE. This chapter identifi es
constraints and challenges
experienced in RWE (in both
developed and developing
countries) and introduces
the seven-step approach to
identifying and addressing
those constraints and
challenges.
■ Chapters 2 to 8: The
seven steps of RWE.
These include scoping the
evaluation, addressing budget
constraints, addressing time
constraints, addressing data
constraints, addressing
political infl uences,
strengthening the evaluation
design and the validity of
the conclusions, and helping
clients and stakeholders use
the evaluation.
■ Chapters 9 to 14: Review
of evaluation methods
and approaches and their
applications in RWE.
These chapters provide
more detailed discussion of
program theory evaluation,
quantitative designs,
quantitative methods,
qualitative methods, mixed-
method evaluation, and
sampling.
■ Chapters 15 and 16:
Pulling it all together. The
fi rst chapter is on building
capacity for RWE and the
second is a summary of all
previous chapters.
The book also includes as
appendices various checklists,
worksheets and resources for
capacity building.
Review
The focus of this book is on
evaluating impacts. So if the
reader’s primary interest is in
impact evaluations, this book
will be particularly relevant. A
reader whose evaluation interests
are wider than impact studies
may fi nd the book somewhat
limited. There is, however,
some discussion of process
evaluations but primarily in
their role as handmaidens to
impact evaluations. Perhaps the
authors next RWE book could
be about some of those other
Title: RealWorld Evaluation: Working Under Budget, Time, Data and Political Constraints
Authors: Michael Bamberger, Jim Rugh and Linda Mabry
Publisher: Sage, Thousand Oaks, California
Publication date: 2006
Extent/type: 468 pages, paperback
Price: A$89 from Footprint Books which offers a 15% discount to AES members, phone (02) 9997 3973
ISBN: 1-4129-0946-5
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