Book Review: The Sage Handbook of Evaluation: Policies, Programs and Practices
| Author | Chris Milne |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0700700111 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
B O O K R E V I E W S
at
realistsynthesis> to get a fl avour
2005, ‘Systematically reviewing
Reviewed by:
of the book. This companion
qualitative and quantitative
evidence to inform management
site also includes useful articles
and policy making in the health
Harsh Suri
that augment the main thesis
fi eld’, Journal of Health Services
presented in the book. On
Centre for the Advancement of
Research and Policy, vol. 10, no.
the whole, the book and its
1, pp. 6-20.
Learning and Teaching,
companion website are valuable
Suri, H 2004, ‘Synthesising research
Monash University, Melbourne.
methodological resources.
for diverse purposes: moving
Email:
beyond “What works?”’,
References
paper presented at the annual
conference of the Australian
Dixon-Woods, M, Agarwal, S, Jones,
Association for Research in
D, Young, B & Sutton, AJ 2005,
Education (AARE), Melbourne,
‘Synthesising qualitative and
28 November – 2 December,
quantitative evidence: a review
sur04790.pdf>.
Health Services Research and
Policy, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 45–53.
Title:
The Sage Handbook of Evaluation: Policies, Programs and Practices
Editors:
Ian Shaw, Jennifer Greene and Melvin Mark
Publisher:
Sage, London
Publication
date: 2006
Extent/type:
608 pages, hardback
Price:
A$241 from Footprint Books which offers a 15% discount for AES members, phone (02) 9997 3973
ISBN:
0-7619-7305-2
I remember feeling very confused
I am not sure why it is called
point, and exploring them
when I fi rst went to evaluation
a handbook. After carrying
philosophically and empirically.
conferences. So many different
around this 600-page tome for a
The focus is on the evaluation
fi elds of interests, so many points
couple of days, I can assure you
of programs, policies and
of view, so many seemingly
that it is too heavy, both literally
practices in ‘people-related
unrelated methods, such different
and metaphorically, to keep in
areas’, with the contributors
expectations and experiences.
your handbag or briefcase ready
largely drawn from the
After a couple of years, I realised
to haul out when an evaluation
domains of education, health,
that it was never all going to
gets a bit tricky and you need
social policy and international
fall neatly into place, that this
some guidance. The title is
development. While the
was the reality of contemporary
misleading in another sense too;
Handbook does not address
evaluation, and I began to enjoy
it’s a ‘mind book’ rather than a
other fi elds such as, in the
the complexity and diversity,
‘handbook’. It offers 26 essays
words of the editors, ‘energy
and found myself reassuring
that demonstrate different ways
policies, space exploration
newcomers. As an evaluation
of thinking about evaluation.
programs, defence policy,
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