Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry [Paperback]

Hallie Preskill (Author), Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1412909511 | ISBN-13: 978-1412909518 | Edition: 1

Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry is the first book to introduce the application of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), an approach for organizational development and change, to the practice of evaluation. Authors Hallie Preskill and Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas lay out the theoretical foundation of AI and build a bridge between the theory and practice of applying AI to evaluation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I enjoyed the book.  I found the approach refreshing and useful.  The structure of the book made the argument easy to follow...Practitioners of evaluation, or any organizational change process, will find the approach useful. (Anona Armstrong )

About the Author

Hallie Preskill, Ph.D., is a Professor of Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.  She teaches graduate level courses in program evaluation (introductory and advanced), organizational learning, consulting, and organization and training design, development, and delivery.  She coauthored Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations (Preskill & Torres, 1999), Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance & Change (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001), Evaluation Strategies for Communication and Reporting: Enhancing Learning in Organizations (Torres, Preskill & Piontek, 2004), and Building Evaluation Capacity: 72 Activities for Teaching and Training (Preskill & Russ-Eft, 2004). Preskill also coedited Using Appreciative Inquiry in Evaluation (Preskill & Coghlan, New Directions for Evaluation #100, 2003) and the Human Resource Development Review (Russ-Eft, Preskill & Sleezer, 1997). She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Evaluation Association and the Academy of Human Resource Development and is the section editor of the Teaching Evaluation column in the American Journal of Evaluation.  She received the American Evaluation Association’s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for Outstanding Professional Practice in 2002 and the University of Illinois Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004.  For over 20 years, she has provided workshops and consulting services in the areas of program evaluation, training, and organization development.  She has also written numerous articles and book chapters on evaluation methods and processes, and has conducted program evaluations in schools and health care, nonprofit, human service, and corporate organizations.  

Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas, M.P.P., is President of EnCompass LLC and brings 20 years of experience in evaluation, knowledge management, e-learning, and training. Ms. Catsambas is an innovator and practitioner in appreciative evaluation methods. Starting in 1998, she experimented with the use of appreciative inquiry in an evaluation of healthcare quality assurance activities in Chile. This became the first published work in appreciative evaluation in the Journal for International Health Care Quality, Volume 14, Supplement I, December 2002. She has continued to refine appreciative evaluation methods through her work with many clients in diverse settings including the World Bank, the United Nations, the Pubic Broadcasting Service, CARE International, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and others. Ms. Catsambas brings her rich field experience to her training and has conducted annual training sessions at the American Evaluation Association Annual Conference since 2002. She has coauthored two chapters on appreciative evaluation methods (Preskill & Coghlan, New Directions for Evaluation #100, 2003). Her other clients include the U.S. Department of Labor, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, the U.S.Agency for International Development, Peace Corps, and the United Nations Foundation. She holds a Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 1 edition (June 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412909511
• ISBN-13: 978-1412909518
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bridge Between OD and Evaluation Disciplines, July 11, 2006

By 

Laverne Webb (St. Michaels, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry (Paperback)

This book reflects current issues that evaluators and organization development professionals face in their day to day work, such as cultural diversity, increasingly distributed populations, the challenge of the ever-changing program design, and using credible qualitative evaluation methods . It provides a step by step guide that will help readers know how to apply Appreciative Inquiry to evaluation. It empowers readers to use this approach for strengthening their own evaluation practice. This book is a bridge between evaluation and organizational development disciplines and enriches both fields.