This text aids both students and practitioners in articulating the elements of program evaluation, deepening their understanding of the contextual issues that surround and shape an evaluation. Authors Stephen A. Kapp and Gary R. Anderson offer readers details on the application of useful and accepted evaluation methods. It also shows readers how to make sound decisions in balancing techniques and strategies with the realities of the agency environment. Key Features Ethical considerations related to collecting data from service consumers and working with agency personnel Strategies for accommodating cultural and ethnic differences when collecting program evaluation data Techniques for engaging agency personnel and key constituents in the entire evaluation process Accompanied by robust ancillaries This text is accompanied by a robust companion site. The password-protected Instructor′s Site features: Sample Syllabi PowerPoint Slides Test Bank The open-access Student Study Site offers: Quizzes Journal Articles Web Resources and Activities This text is designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in program evaluation within departments of social work, mental health, and human services. It is also a great resource for practicing professionals, supervisors, and managers.

Now in its sixth edition, this popular student-friendly introduction to program evaluation provides social workers with a sound conceptual understanding of how to use basic evaluation techniques in the evaluation of their cases (case-level) and programs (program-level). Eminently approachable, straightforward, and practical, this edition includes the fundamental tools that are needed in order for social workers to fully appreciate and understand how case- and program-level evaluations will help them to increase their effectiveness as contemporary data-driven practitioners.

This text provides a solid foundation in program evaluation, covering the main components of evaluating agencies and their programs, how best to address those components, and the procedures to follow when conducting evaluations. Different models and approaches are paired with practical techniques, such as how to plan an interview to collect qualitative data and how to use statistical analyses to report results. In every chapter, case studies provide real world examples of evaluations broken down into the main elements of program evaluation: the needs that led to the program, the implementation of program plans, the people connected to the program, unexpected side effects, the role of evaluators in improving programs, the results, and the factors behind the results. In addition, the story of one of the evaluators involved in each case study is presented to show the human side of evaluation. This new edition also offers enhanced and expanded case studies, making them a central organizing theme, and adds more international examples. New online resources for this edition include a table of evaluation models, examples of program evaluation reports, sample handouts for presentations to stakeholders, links to YouTube videos and additional annotated resources. All resources are available for download under the tab eResources at www.routledge.com/9781138103962.

Now in its seventh edition, this comprehensive text once again provides beginning social work students and practitioners with a proven, time-tested approach to help them understand and appreciate how to use basic evaluation techniques within their individual cases (case-level) and the programs where they work (program-level). As with the previous six editions, this text is eminently approachable, accessible, straightforward, and most importantly, practical.

Program evaluation requires attention to rationality, rigor, and careful methods. Yet precision and accuracy alone do not guarantee that program evaluations will be implemented. What prevents an evaluation from being thrown on a shelf to gather dust? Author Gerald Emison, a practitioner with more than 20 years experience, knows that the consumers of program evaluations operate in a decidedly practical and political arena where decision making is a very human and sometimes messy process. Getting students from ideas to outcomes means that knowing clients’ needs and effectively communicating results are just as crucial as an evaluator’s theoretical knowledge and statistical analysis. Emison wants to help students translate their mastery of methodology into useable program evaluations that are implemented and affect actual programs. Short and to-the-point, Practical Program Evaluations hones in on the applied side of program evaluation, with the goal of creating and presenting program evaluations that are used and improve public enterprises. A handy supplement to core texts, Emison offers honest advice, emphasizing practices that focus on the client, content, control and communication of program evaluations.