Factors influencing evaluation use has been a primary concern for evaluators. However, little is known about the current conceptualizations of evaluation use including what counts as use, what efforts encourage use, and how to measure use. This article identifies enablers and constraints to evaluation use based on a scoping review of literature…

Programme evaluation has developed tremendously over the past 50 years, with a proliferation of evaluation research, an increase in the institutionalization of evaluation, and growth in the professionalization of evaluation. However, existing research and developments are still largely in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with…

Since the George Floyd murder in 2020 and Black Lives Matter campaign, there has been increased interest among evaluators and PIs in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in their projects and evaluations. Our previous research showed a lack of clarity in understanding the distinction between the terms in practice and desire to engage with these…

The issue of connecting research evidence with practice referred to as evidence-informed practice (EIP) has received considerable critical attention in the field of education. However, assessment literature has failed to fully acknowledge the significance of this issue. This conceptual paper concentrates on the process of informing classroom…

George Grob presented the fifth and final Eleanor Chelimsky Forum address at the 2017 annual meeting of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society. In this commentary, I respond to several points that George raises in the "American Journal of Evaluation" paper based on that address. An overarching theme of my comments involves the potential…

This paper reports on what has happened since Elliott ("Dynamic Assessment in Educational Settings: Realising Potential," 2003) in those applications of dynamic assessment that he considered. There continues to be two broad applications, one, largely researcher led, and the other, largely practitioner led, although there are examples of…

Research on evaluation theories, methods, and practices has increased considerably in the past decade. Even so, little is known about whether published findings from research on evaluation are read by evaluators and whether such findings influence evaluators' thinking about evaluation or their evaluation practice. To address these questions, and…

The main problem of the educational evaluation validity is that it just copies the conceptual framework system of validity from educational measurement to its own conceptual system. The validity conceptual system that fits the need of theory and practice of educational evaluation has not been established yet. According to the inherent attributive…

In this paper, the author argues that evaluation theory and practice interact insufficiently today, even though early evaluation theorists expected them to be closely intertwined. She views this limited connection as the result of differing interests on the part of theorists and practitioners, differing frequencies of dissemination, and differing…

Purpose: In the higher education sector, the evaluation of learning and teaching projects is assuming a role as a quality and accountability indicator. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning and teaching project evaluation is approached and critiques alignment between evaluation theory and practice. Design/Methodology/Approach:…

The changing context of work and organizations is making new demands of leadership. Differing expectations on the goals of leadership training, and development are also emerging. To date, few comprehensive models to guide evaluation research and practice in the field of leadership training and development have appeared in the literature. This…

In 2010, HCM Strategists received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to engage academic researchers in identifying and discussing the best currently available ways to account for differences in college "inputs"--students, resources, and fixed characteristics--when evaluating postsecondary outcomes. The project, Context…

Although the general conceptual basis appeared far earlier, theory-driven evaluation came to prominence only a few decades ago with the appearance of Chen's 1990 book "Theory-Driven Evaluations." Since that time, the approach has attracted many supporters as well as detractors. In this paper, 45 cases of theory-driven evaluations, published over a…

This article is primarily methodological but has dual aims. First, it makes a case for Q methodology as an effective and so far little exploited means of capturing, comparing and contrasting individual perspectives on a specific question in the field of educational leadership. In common with other research approaches designed to uncover the…

Student surveys across the world have highlighted that students are dissatisfied with the feedback they receive on their assignments and many institutions have been putting plans in place to address this issue. Much of this work has focused on improving the quality of written comments. This paper takes a different perspective. It argues that the…