This article compares the purposes and content of the four foundational documents of the American Evaluation Association (AEA): the Program Evaluation Standards, the AEA Public Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation, the AEA Evaluator Competencies, and the AEA Guiding Principles. This reflection on alignment is an early effort in the third…

The Nuremberg Code established ethics for the involvement of humans in research, initially in the area of health and medical research. While aspects of the code have been extended to the social and behavioral sciences, program evaluation does not always implement those policies, procedures, and protocols for protecting research participants,…

As part of its "Guiding Principles for Evaluators," the American Evaluation Association (AEA) requires that evaluators develop cultural competencies. Using a successive-independent-samples design, the researchers sought to compare perceptions of cultural competence across a duration of 10 years. Qualitative data were collected via online…

Despite a wide body of literature on the importance of program theory and the need to tackle complexity to improve international development programming, the use of program theory to underpin interventions aimed at facilitating change in complex systems remains a challenge for many program practitioners. The actor-based change framework offers a…

As global discussions of evaluation standards become more contextually nuanced, culturally responsive conceptions of ethics have not been sufficiently discussed. In academic social research, ethical clearance processes have been designed to protect vulnerable people from harm related to participation in a research project. This article expands the…

The primary focus of this article is ''advocating for the results of a specific evaluation.'' To some extent, all evaluators are advocates, however the author notes, "there is no great mystery in how to use evaluations for advocacy, especially with respect to influencing policy making within federal and state…

The need for evaluation capacity building (ECB) in military psychological health is apparent in light of the proliferation of newly developed, yet untested programs coupled with the lack of internal evaluation expertise. This study addresses these deficiencies by utilizing Preskill and Boyle's multidisciplinary ECB model within a post-traumatic…

Two challenges often associated with teaching program evaluation at the graduate level are the need to incorporate practical skills development and being limited to a one-semester-long course offering. The existing literature provides some information concerning a practical application component; however, there is almost no discussion of pedagogy…

Program evaluators need methods that can be used in a variety of situations to help gather data. Photolanguage is one such technique that uses black-and-white photographs to elicit responses from individuals. It is particularly useful in situations where the respondents may give restricted or only minimal data. This article provides the…

Clearly defined and measurable goals are commonly considered prerequisites for effective evaluation. Goal setting, however, presents a paradox to evaluators because it takes place at the interface of rationality and values. The objective of this article is to demonstrate a method for unlocking this paradox by making goal setting a process of…

This article focuses on the use of statistics in policy and evaluation research and the need to present statistical information in a form that is meaningful to mixed audiences. Three guidelines for formulating and presenting meaningful statistics are outlined. Understandability ensures that knowledge of statistical methods is not required for…

Program theory plays a prominent role in many evaluations, not only in theory-driven evaluations. This paper presents a case study of the process of developing and refining a program's theory within a user-oriented evaluation. In user-oriented (or utilization-focused) evaluations, primary users can play a role in defining their own program theory.…