The author enjoyed reading Katharine Hay's ambitious and humbling visions for evaluation field building in South Asia. She has successfully positioned herself on a high mountain with a wonderful set of binoculars that enable her to see the entire evaluation landscape of South Asia. She magically sees and describes significant historical forces and…

This paper reviews what has been learned about evaluation ultilization during the past 20 years. Evaluation utilization is discussed in terms of what is used, who uses evaluation, when evaluation is used, how evaluation is used, where evaluation is used, and why evaluation is used. It is suggested that the personal factor - the interests and…

Strategies for use by clients who commission evaluation studies in the private, university, or governmental sector are outlined. Topics covered include establishing the purpose of the evaluation, assembling in-house management staff, specifying work and expertise requirements, establishing confidentiality and project control, and managing results.…

Four functions of federal project officers in managing program evaluations with support from contract research firms are described: (1) articulating evaluation requirements; (2) providing for fairness in contract awards; (3) monitoring ongoing studies; and (4) transmitting evaluation results to decision makers. (Author/PN)

A framework is presented to identify programs with the highest potential for payoffs to management resulting from evaluation. Several program initiatives may be evaluated in organizations. Criteria for assessing needs and standards for prioritizing programs are presented. Evaluators must analyze alternatives and determine which one successfully…

This paper proposes a humanistic approach that may not be evaluation as commonly regarded, but it does have a much greater chance to enact program improvement. It assumes that program developers and directors really want their activities to be effective and relevant. The role of the evaluator is that of facilitator, that of a linking pin to…

Suggests a four-step method for reconstructing evaluation offices originally established for federal funding programs so that they can provide information for local decision making: (1) review past work, (2) identify necessary projects, (3) establish joint priorities, and (4) develop action plan. (TE)

Evaluation must take into account both executive and legislative politics and their interactions. A five-part continuum evaluation process is suggested for the development of a policy question and its translation into knowledge that is credible, timely, responsive, and usable. Evaluators have a major responsibility in this process. (Author/JAZ)

The four studies reported in this paper examined the relationship between locus of control and (1) preferences for evaluation strategies, (2) kinds of information seen as useful in decision making, (3) values placed on the usefulness and worth of evaluation, and (4) group interaction in decision making. (BW)

In this context, ethics refers to a set of normative standards for resolving dilemmas that policy analysts or evaluators often face with regard to what they should do in performing their roles in the interests of societal desirability. The dilemmas relate to: (1) prediction versus prediction plus prescription; (2) evaluation versus evaluation plus…

From 1980 through 1983, 41 articles in selected professional journals dealt with summative evaluation of training and development efforts in business and industry. All of the standard components of program evaluation were addressed either directly or indirectly in them, in varying degree and depth. Although one must contact the primary audience to…

This report presents the results of a yearlong study of the process of evaluation use in a large city school district. Based on extensive naturalistic data-gathering, the research documents how local school administrators use evaluation information generated by the district's research and evaluation unit. The significance of the research is the…

Describes a 1984 report from the Rand Corporation that studied teacher evaluation practices. Problems revealed include lack of resolve and competence in principals, resistance or apathy of teachers, inconsistent evaluation practices between schools, and inadequate training for evaluators. (TE)

The current health and future well-being of educational evaluation is considered in terms of financial support, official mandate, evaluators' status, evaluation prevalence, and evaluation utility in these seven symposium papers. "Educational Evaluation--Indicators of Life, Death, or Reincarnation," by Susan Klein, assesses recent federal…

An evaluation research capability was used to document the design and implementation of two programs in a large urban school district. This paper describes the research context, the origins of the role of resident evaluator, the broad functions of this role, and factors contributing to the usefulness of this approach. (BW)