The author analyzes the growth and nature of internal evaluation from the 1960s to the present and suggests that internal evaluation has been on the increase because of its perceived importance. Although the 1960s were characterized by a rich intellectual development of evaluation theory and practice, the fiscal conservatism of the 1980s ushered…

Critiques the chapters in this theme issue and concludes that the challenges to the pragmatic use of deliberative democratic evaluation are great. Current practice and theory do not go far enough to unmask the potential of evaluation for supporting democratic practices and creating democratic communities. (Author/SLD)

Highlights differences related to the ethics of the evaluation situation for internal and external evaluators and differences related to the attention evaluators pay to the ethics of the evaluand. Internal and external evaluations occupy different "communities," and it is the nature of those communities that is critical for the…

Describes verbal protocols as a useful tool for evaluating computer hardware and software, especially if informed by activity theory. Such protocols cannot, however, stand alone in a thorough evaluation design. (Author/SLD)