Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines (3rd Edition) [Hardcover]

Jody L. Fitzpatrick (Author), James R. Sanders (Author), Blaine R. Worthen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321077067 | ISBN-13: 978-0321077066 | Publication Date: August 16, 2003 | Edition: 3

The most comprehensive text on program evalation, providing an overview of a wide variety of approaches to evaluation and extensive practical guidelines for how to carry out evaluation studies successfully. This text helps both students and professionals who are new to evaluation to understand how the field has evolved , what different approaches an evaluator can take in conducting evaluations, and how to plan and conduct an evaluation. The text makes extensive use of checklists, examples, and a comprehensive case study. Finally, throughout the book, students are introduced to current trends and controversial issues in evaluation and ways to conduct evaluations in an ethical and professional manner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a landmark text and it remains the definitive classic for training new evaluators. The authors have truly made an important contribution to the field...Nothing comes close to this text in terms of coverage, balance of theory and practicality, and usefulness in the field of evaluation." - Gary J. Skolits, University of Tennessee

 

"This is a great textbook. It is simply the most readable, most comprehensive introduction to program evaluation." - Ted Miller, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

 

 

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

“I like this book because it is very practical. Even non-evaluators can easily understand how to do an evaluation from reading this book. The authors take an eclectic approach rather than being wedded to one specific approach to evaluation.”
Susan B. Twombly University of Kansas

The most comprehensive text on the market, Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines, 3/e provides an overview of a wide variety of approaches to evaluation and extensive practical guidelines for carrying out evaluation studies successfully. This text helps both students and professionals who are new to evaluation to understand how the field has evolved, what different approaches an evaluator can take in conducting evaluations, and how to plan and conduct an evaluation. The text makes extensive use of checklists, examples, and a comprehensive case study. Finally, throughout the book, students are introduced to current trends and controversial issues in evaluation and ways to conduct evaluations in an ethical and professional manner.

New to This Edition

• Use of technology, from web-based surveys to qualitative data analysis, is addressed throughout the text and an appendix lists web sites with evaluation-related information.
• The methods chapters have been revised so that they no longer separate qualitative and quantitative methods, but instead integrate these methods and follow the logical sequence of choices in methods; design, sampling, and data collection.
• For increased ease of use, tables and figures have been added to most chapters in the text.
• Content is up-dated throughout the text to include new findings and controversies such as advocacy in evaluation. This discussion will help students learn more about their role as advocates versus “neutral” evaluators.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon; 3 edition (August 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321077067
• ISBN-13: 978-0321077066
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Thorough, February 4, 2000

By 

John J Couture (San Diego, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I've been using this book as a resource for evaluating programs at our college and for my doctoral research. The book is well organized and contains several examples and paradigms with which to evaluate programs in both govermental and corporate settings. Expensive book but one that you'll keep handy!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best evaluation survey text, February 23, 2005

By 

jw (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This text surveys evaluation theory and practice in a manner that is easy to understand and teach. It's appropriate for undergraduate or graduate work in performance evaluation. The authors do an excellent job of reviewing the history and key literature. They also briefly explain popular methodologies and discuss different approaches, such as objective and holistic. The book includes case study material that highlights processes, advantages, drawbacks, and potential problems of evaluation efforts. The authors avoid consulting hype and focus on building the evaluation body of knowledge. An update with Fitzpatrick listed as the first author is now available and also is excellent.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars program Evaluation, September 20, 2009

By 

Richard Connelly - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

This text was pretty exhaustive but they should have included several examples of evaluations, executive reports, etc. It would have been interesting to study the types of evaluations and read some mock or real evaluation reports or mock journal entries listing information gathering processes, focus group meetings, etc. in each style.
They used a few limited journal entry examples but something that really lays out the whole process would have been better. The book is quite technical, perhaps at the expense of overlooking the energy and passion that evaluators need for themselves and to bring out in their stakeholders. Our professor actually had to use an additional book (Action Research by Stringer) to add that component. At the price we paid this text should have also covered more of that perspective. This book is ridiculously expensive. Surely they could lower the prices a bit and still make a great profit. I think that students being hit with huge tuition costs are getting tired of these outrageous book prices. The authors really know their stuff and I learned a lot from the book.
I don't begrudge them for making a profit for such a scholarly work but I'd love to know how they (the publishers)can justify such a cost for a book.
All in all a good text especially covering the component parts of evaluations, types of evaluations, evolution of the science, and the ethical issues that evaluators face.