Is the market of evaluation allowing real competition for th
Trade Review
'From its early roots in the 1960’s evaluation has emerged as a well developed international profession. But, is it? As evaluators we typically ask questions like: "What has been accomplished?"; "Where are we?". Yet we have failed to ask these same questions of ourselves as evaluators and of our profession. This book assembles an international lineup of eminent scholars who ably address these issues. This is a book that is well worth reading.' - Marvin C. Alkin, Emeritus Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
'A longstanding mantra of evaluation has been the admonition to speak truth to power. To do so we must speak truth to each other, truth about evaluation's strengths and weaknesses, achievements and shortcomings, exemplars and failures, past disappointments and future hopes. In short, we must speak truth to each other about all aspects of the evaluation enterprise. This book's contributors speak their truths. Listen well. Then formulate and speak yours.' - Michael Quinn Patton, author of Principles-Focused Evaluation: The GUIDE
Table of Contents
Preface: The Evaluation Enterprise, Or Evaluation as An Enterprise [Nicoletta Stame And Jan-Eric Furubo] Part 1: From Program Evaluation to The Evaluation Society 1. Understanding the Evaluation Enterprise [Jan-Eric Furubo] 2. The Politics / Administration Dichotomy and Evaluation [Nicoletta Stame] 3. The Skeptical Turn in Evaluation [Peter Dahler-Larsen] Part 2: The Evaluation Enterprise 4. From Law to Reality – A Critical View on The Institutionalization of Evaluation in The Swiss Canton of Geneva’s Parliament [Katia Horber-Papazian and Christian Rosser] 5. Evaluation Overload and Evaluation Underload [Rolf Sandahl] 6. Accountability’s Two Solitudes and The Questions It Raises: Accountability to Whom? By Whom? And for What? [Burt Perrin] 7. Italian Evaluation Policy Between Centralization and Judicially-Enforced Accountability [Mita Marra] Part 3: The Management of The Enterprise 8. Getting Value for Money? A Critical Analysis of The Costs and Benefits of Evaluation [Kim Forss] 9. The Journey to A Professional Designation for Evaluators in Canada [Marie-Helene Adrien And Lauren-Victoria Hellrung] 10. The Concerted Effort to Professionalize Evaluation Practice: Whither Are We Bound? [Thomas A. Schwandt] 11. The Commercial Side of Evaluation: Evaluation as An Industry and As a Professional Service [Steffen Bohni Nielsen, Sebastian Lemire, And Christina A. Christie] Conclusion: Towards A Better Understanding of The Evaluation Enterprise [Jan-Eric Furubo And Nicoletta Stame]
