Our understanding of programs is enhanced when trained, skilled, and observant evaluators go "into the field"--the real world where programs are conducted--paying attention to what's going on, systematically documenting what they see, and reporting what they learn. The article opens by presenting and illustrating twelve reasons for…

Extension and evaluation share some similar challenges, including working with diverse stakeholders, parallel processes for focusing priorities, meeting common standards of excellence, and adapting to globalization, new technologies, and changing times. Evaluations of extension programs have helped clarify how change occurs, especially the…

Discusses lessons to be learned from evaluation and best practices in evaluation and some ways to bring increased rigor to evaluators' use of those terms. Suggests that "best" practices is a term to avoid, with "better" or "effective" being more realistic, and calls for more specificity when discussing lessons to be…

Explores the commonality between effective extension education and effective evaluations, illustrating similar principles and processes both involve. (JOW)

The role of the evaluator in insuring utilization and quality of evaluation results is discussed. Topics covered include a utilization-focused vision of accountability, overcoming staff fears of evaluation, eliciting the right information from users, situational responsiveness, and advocacy. (TJH)

Comments on the evaluation by Margaret Mead of the first Salzburg Seminar (1947). Notes the strength and clarity of Mead's evaluation report, which was written without the aid of the many tools on which today's evaluators draw. (SLD)

Discusses teaching and training about evaluation with metaphors. Helping those who study evaluation perceive analogies and metaphors related to evaluation helps them understand truths about the rich diversity of evaluation. (SLD)

Use and misuse of evaluation results are discussed. Variations in evaluation definitions, entity used, nature of the user, time and place of evaluation use, personal factor, basic premises of utilization-focused evaluation, misutilization, and method and rationales for use are discussed. A case example with a federal program is outlined. (TJH)

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…

Refutes three evaluation myths--(1) evaluation is findings; (2) outcomes are hard to measure; and (3) evaluation is an add-on--with three principles: (1) evaluation is a learning process; (2) soft data about important issues are better than hard data about unimportant issues; and (3) meaningful evaluation is integrated into teaching and learning.…

The user-oriented and utilization-focused evaluation design of the two-year Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project, funded by Aid to International Development, is reviewed. The evaluation scope, stakeholders, evaluation team credibility, official approval of evaluation, and confidence in the evaluation process are addressed, within a…

This new edition offers an evaluation text that ranges from identifying the primary users of an evaluation to focusing the evaluation, making methods decisions, analyzing data, and presenting findings. Both practical and theoretical, the book tells how to conduct program evaluations and why they should be conducted in the manner prescribed. Each…

Areas of evaluation are identified in which the formative/summative distinction appears inadequate: (1) knowledge-generating evaluations aimed at conceptual use; (2) developmental evaluation; and (3) use of evaluation to support intervention or empower participants. An argument is also made for the effectiveness of feedback that cannot be…

An approach toward integrating evaluation into a program at its inception is presented as a way to increase utility and cost-effectiveness. Examples illustrate that such integration, combining internal and external evaluation, is preferable to independent and separate evaluation in terms of the cost to stakeholders. (SLD)

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, the fourth in the kit, explains the basic assumptions underlying qualitative procedures, suggests evaluation situations where qualitative designs are useful, and provides guidelines for designing qualitative…