The authors, three African-American women trained as collaborative evaluators, offer a comparative analysis of collaborative evaluation (O'Sullivan, 2004) and culturally responsive evaluation approaches (Frierson, Hood, & Hughes, 2002; Kirkhart & Hopson, 2010). Collaborative evaluation techniques immerse evaluators in the cultural milieu…

Training is critical for the growth of the evaluation profession as more qualified and competent individuals will be required to meet the increased demand for evaluation. This paper deals with the training needs of professionals and is based on a part of a study on the status and challenges of educational program evaluation in the Asia-Pacific…

The ethical work of program evaluators is based on a covenant of honesty and transparency among stakeholders. Yet even under the most favorable evaluation conditions, threats to ethical standards exist and muddle that covenant. Unfortunately, ethical issues associated with different evaluation structures and contracting arrangements have received…

Ethical problems encountered by foundation officers in their evaluation-related work were identified via an email survey of a sample of Council on Foundations member organizations. Of the respondents who had worked with evaluators, one-third indicated that they had faced ethical challenges. Most challenges fell into one of four categories:…

In 2003 foster youth employed by a foster youth advocacy organization suggested that an evaluation of group home services to foster youth be conducted in Alameda County, California. This report presents the development and conduct of this evaluation study; how funding was obtained; and how foster youth were hired, trained, and employed to produce…

Needs assessment (NA) is generally based on the discrepancy between two conditions--the desired and present states. To date, there has not been an extensive research regarding a number of subtle problems in discrepancy analysis. One such example is missing data for one or both the two states. This leads to highly varied item "n's" for calculating…

Evaluation of the Humanities Education, Research, and Language Development (HERALD) Project in the San Francisco Unified School District (California), which focused on teacher empowerment, shows the value of close collaboration between external evaluators and teachers as internal evaluators. Evaluator-teacher collaboration made evaluation more…

Evaluators vary in their propensity to make direct valuative judgments of program worth. The decision to include recommendations with a report or provide merely descriptive evaluation depends on individuals' perspectives concerning the nature of reality, truth and values, human agency, and informational utility. (SLD)

Microcomputer-based imaging technology reestablishes the direct link between evaluation and environmental design by allowing evaluators and urban designers to visually explore and evaluate alternative simulations of design proposals. Microcomputer hardware and software requirements and the use of imaging technology at the university level are…

Evaluators must use a flexible, open-minded approach oriented toward a holistic view of the implementation and operation of the program they are analyzing. The use of more than one methodology expands the potential findings and avoids the limitations of a unidimensional approach. (SLD)

The core roles involved in the evaluation of a community program called "Alternatives," aimed at safer use of medications by seniors, are described as community developer, research/evaluator, and community committee. The types of roles, the conflicts among them, and their positive interactions have implications for other field evaluations. (SLD)

This article provides a case study of the use of emergent design, which asks evaluators to adapt their inquiry processes as understanding develops, in the evaluation of a family support program, tracing the emergence of evaluation procedures through three phases. Two phases produced data that policymakers found very helpful. (SLD)

Four key entities participating in foreign assistance projects are (1) donors; (2) technical advisors; (3) host country counterparts; and (4) beneficiaries. Resistance to collaborative evaluation that each may exhibit is discussed, along with ways evaluators can overcome resistance and enhance evaluation outcomes, credibility, and utilization.…

This paper presents a case study of a stakeholder-collaborative approach to the utilization of evaluation. The roles of participants were extended to incorporate: the design, administration, and interpretation of surveys and interviews; extensive data-gathering; and development of major portions of the final report. (Author/LMO)

A responsive illuminative approach was used to evaluate a program for training motorcycle riders. This approach provided interaction between evaluators and participants, and attempted to provide a detailed report reflecting stakeholders' views. The design, implementation, and reporting of the evaluation are described, as are implications for…