In 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded funds to the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University to conduct an external evaluation of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. ATE, a federally mandated program designed to increase the number and quality of skilled technicians in the U.S. workforce, has funded over 346…

With the vast array of contextual factors, pedagogical approaches, models of implementation, and purposes of education and training related to online learning, educators, learners, and the general public alike are seeking answers regarding utility and effectiveness of online learning. This article identifies and responds to many of the challenges…

A team at the University of Minnesota conducted the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) core evaluation between 1999 and 2004. The purpose of the CETP core evaluation was to achieve consensus among CETP project leaders and project evaluators on evaluation questions; to develop, pilot, and field test evaluation instruments…

The general steps in conducting an evaluation using an online survey are the same as in using other methods: planning, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and application. Even though the process of evaluation using Internet-based surveys begins in a familiar manner, the unique requirements of the online methodology become apparent almost…

Certain challenges are inherent in collecting data to evaluate nonformal education programs and settings. One challenge relates to the complexity of the educational system in which nonformal learning takes place. Separating the learning effects of a nonformal education program on participants from the effects of other essential elements of their…

Provides a detailed description of diverse data collection tools based on the World Wide Web and enumerates their advantages, disadvantages, and logistical challenges. Web-based data collection can offer cost-effective, flexible, and timely solutions to many evaluation needs. (Author/SLD)

Thomas Jefferson recognized the value of reason and scientific experimentation in the eighteenth century. This chapter extends the idea in contemporary ways to standards that may be used to judge the ethical propriety of randomized trials and the dependability of evidence on effects of social interventions.

Provides an overview of the design of the leavers studies reported in this volume. Reviews major cross-study findings related to employment, program participation, and household income. Illustrates how the combination of administrative and survey data can show how welfare leavers are faring. (SLD)

Uses the evaluation of a family literacy program as the basis for an analysis of the benefits of collaborative evaluation. Identifies enhanced learning, efficient data collection and problem planning, deepened professional and personal relationships, and strengthened convictions as results of the collaboration. (SLD)

Over the past decade, quantitative methods have evolved to provide evaluators with more effective means for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information. The advances discussed are: (1) facilitating advances that consist of changes that make carrying out quantitative evaluation easier; (2) advances in measurement; and (3) advances in…

Focuses on ethical issues that can arise in the collection and analysis of data in evaluations. Addresses four issues: (1) the application of cost-benefit thinking to judgments about research ethics, (2) the quality of research design, (3) the need to explore the data, and (4) the censoring of data. (Author/SLD)

This eight chapters of this special issue introduce the use of a template to specify program components as a new tool for program evaluation. The template articulates the components needed for program delivery and provides a systematic method for assessing program implementation. (SLD)

Although the process of doing social network analysis (SNA) is similar to traditional research and evaluation design, it is in the details that the two traditions diverge. This article describes two areas of differences: (1) the framework for doing SNA; and (2) data collection, analysis, and specific measures. SNA is about relationships and how to…

The sharp rise in the HIV/AIDS burden worldwide has elicited calls for increased efforts to combat the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. Efforts must continue with the aim to decrease new infections. At the same time, care and treatment services for those already infected can lead to longer, productive lives, thereby minimizing negative effects on…

The seven articles of this special issue focus on theory and research related to survey methods and whether evaluators need information that is absent from the larger survey literature. These articles reflect the view that the considerations relating to good survey research apply also to using surveys in evaluation. (SLD)