Interactive Evaluation Practice
Mastering the Interpersonal Dynamics of Program Evaluation
- Jean A. King - University of Minnesota, USA
- Laurie Stevahn - Seattle University, USA
Program Evaluation
You're about to start your first evaluation project. Where do you begin? Or you're a practicing evaluator faced with a challenging situation. How do you proceed? How do you handle the interactive components and processes inherent in evaluation practice?
Use Interactive Evaluation Practice to bridge the gap between the theory of evaluation and its practice. Taking an applied approach, this book provides readers with specific interactive skills needed in different evaluation settings and contexts. The authors illustrate multiple options for developing skills and choosing strategies, systematically highlighting the evaluator's three roles as decision maker, actor, and reflective practitioner. Case studies and interactive examples stimulate thinking about how to apply interactive skills across a variety of evaluation situations.
"From beginning to end, this book is an indispensable resource for those responsible for the evaluation process. In essence, here's a chance to learn from masters about acquiring mastery. What could be more useful?" Michael Quinn Patton, Author of Utilization-Focused Evaluation
"At long last, a book that explicitly addresses the importance of interpersonal dynamics in evaluation practice!" Hallie Preskill, Executive Director, Strategic Learning and Evaluation Center, FSG
"As an evaluator who frequently interacts with a variety of stakeholders and who provides graduate-level evaluation training, I find Interactive Evaluation Practice to be an exceptional addition to the evaluation literature and a useful guide to interacting with various stakeholder groups." Chris L. S. Coryn, Western Michigan University
“How refreshing! An easy-to-read, scholarly book that is rich in both theory and practical advice, and intensely focused on the interpersonal aspect of evaluation practice...It provides a plethora of best practice examples, templates, and frameworks that show how evaluators can enhance their evaluation practice by paying particular attention to interpersonal dynamics...Throughout the book, King and Stevahn use delightful images and analogies that make it fun to read. Whoever thought of an evaluation being an emergent piece of art?”
Excellent, hands on activities for use both with and by my students in their own practice!