Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications is designed for evaluators and students who need to develop a commanding knowledge of the evaluation field: its history, theory and standards, models and approaches, procedures, and inclusion of personnel as well as program evaluation. This important book shows how to choose from a growing array of program evaluation approaches. In one comprehensive resource, the authors have compiled vital information from the evaluation literature and draw on a wide range of practical experiences. Using this book, evaluators will be able to identify, analyze, and judge 26 evaluation approaches. The authors also show how to discriminate between legitimate and illicit approaches based on application of the Joint Committee Program Evaluation Standards.

The golden standard evaluation reference text Now in its second edition, Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications is the vital text on evaluation models, perfect for classroom use as a textbook, and as a professional evaluation reference. The book begins with an overview of the evaluation field and program evaluation standards, and proceeds to cover the most widely used evaluation approaches. With new evaluation designs and the inclusion of the latest literature from the field, this Second Edition is an essential update for professionals and students who want to stay current. Understanding and choosing evaluation approaches is critical to many professions, and Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications, Second Edition is the benchmark evaluation guide. Authors Daniel L. Stufflebeam and Chris L. S. Coryn, widely considered experts in the evaluation field, introduce and describe 23 program evaluation approaches, including, new to this edition, transformative evaluation, participatory evaluation, consumer feedback, and meta-analysis. Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications, Second Edition facilitates the process of planning, conducting, and assessing program evaluations. The highlighted evaluation approaches include: Experimental and quasi-experimental design evaluations Daniel L. Stufflebeam's CIPP Model Michael Scriven's Consumer-Oriented Evaluation Michael Patton's Utilization-Focused Evaluation Robert Stake's Responsive/Stakeholder-Centered Evaluation Case Study Evaluation Key readings listed at the end of each chapter direct readers to the most important references for each topic. Learning objectives, review questions, student exercises, and instructor support materials complete the collection of tools. Choosing from evaluation approaches can be an overwhelming process, but Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications, Second Edition updates the core evaluation concepts with the latest research, making this complex field accessible in just one book.

This engaging text takes an evenhanded approach to major theoretical paradigms in evaluation and builds a bridge from them to evaluation practice. Featuring helpful checklists, procedural steps, provocative questions that invite readers to explore their own theoretical assumptions, and practical exercises, the book provides concrete guidance for conducting large- and small-scale evaluations. Numerous sample studies—many with reflective commentary from the evaluators—reveal the process through which an evaluator incorporates a paradigm into an actual research project. The book shows how theory informs methodological choices (the specifics of planning, implementing, and using evaluations). It offers balanced coverage of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Useful pedagogical features include: *Examples of large- and small-scale evaluations from multiple disciplines. *Beginning-of-chapter reflection questions that set the stage for the material covered. *"Extending your thinking" questions and practical activities that help readers apply particular theoretical paradigms in their own evaluation projects. *Relevant Web links, including pathways to more details about sampling, data collection, and analysis. *Boxes offering a closer look at key evaluation concepts and additional studies. *Checklists for readers to determine if they have followed recommended practice. *A companion website with resources for further learning.

This is an up-to-date revision of the classic text first published in 1983. It includes a historical perspective on the growth of evaluation theory and practice and two comparative analyses of the various alternative perspectives on evaluation. It also includes articles representing the major schools of thought about evaluation written by the leaders who have developed these schools and models. The final section describes and discusses the Standards for Program Evaluation and the reformation of program evaluation.

As audio and telecommunication technologies develop, there is an increasing need to evaluate the technical and perceptual performance of these innovations. A growing number of new technologies (e.g. low bit-rate coding) are based on specific properties of the auditory system, which are often highly non-linear. This means that the auditory quality of such systems cannot be measured by traditional physical measures (such as distortion, frequency response etc.), but only by perceptual evaluations in the form of listening tests. Perceptual Audio Evaluation provides a comprehensive guide to the many variables that need to be considered before, during and after experiments. Including the selection of the content of the programme material to be reproduced, technical aspects of the production of the programme material, the experimental set-up including calibration, and the statistical planning of the experiment and subsequent analysis of the data. Perceptual Audio Evaluation: Provides a complete and accessible guide to the motives, theory and practical application of perceptual evaluation of reproduced sound. Discusses all the variables of perceptual evaluation, their control and their possible influence on the results. Covers in detail all international standards on the topic. Is illustrated throughout with tables, figures and worked solutions. Perceptual Audio Evaluation will appeal to audio and speech engineers as well as researchers in audio and speech laboratories. Postgraduate students in engineering or acoustics and undergraduate students studying psychoacoustics, speech audio processing and signal processing will also find this an essential reference.

Attempting fonnally to evaluate something involves the evaluator coming to grips with a number of abstract concepts such as value, merit, worth, growth, criteria, standards, objectives, needs, nonns, client, audience, validity, reliability, objectivity, practical significance, accountability, improvement, process, pro duct, fonnative, summative, costs, impact, infonnation, credibility, and - of course - with the tenn evaluation itself. To communicate with colleagues and clients, evaluators need to clarify what they mean when they use such tenns to denote important concepts central to their work. Moreover, evaluators need to integrate these concepts and their meanings into a coherent framework that guides all aspects of their work. If evaluation is to lay claim to the mantle of a profession, then these conceptualizations of evaluation must lead to the conduct of defensible evaluations. The conceptualization of evaluation can never be a one-time activity nor can any conceptualization be static. Conceptualizations that guide evaluation work must keep pace with the growth of theory and practice in the field. Further, the design and conduct of any particular study involves a good deal of localized conceptualization.

I personally learned to know Ralph Tyler rather late in his career when, in the 1960s, I spent a year as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. His term of office as Director of the Center was then approaching its end. This would seem to disqualify me thoroughly from preparing a Foreword to this "Classic Works. " Many of his colleagues and, not least, of his students at his dear Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, are certainly better prepared than I to put his role in American education in proper perspective. The reason for inviting me is, I assume, to bring out the influence that Tyler has had on the international educational scene. I am writing this Foreword on a personal note. Ralph Tyler's accomplishments in his roles as a scholar, policy maker, educational leader, and statesman have been amply put on record in this book, not least in the editors' Preface. My reflections are those of an observer from abroad but who, over the last 25 years, has been close enough to overcome the aloofness of the foreigner. Tyler has over many years been criss-crossing the North American con tinent generously giving advice to agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, lecturing, and serving on many committees and task forces that have been instrumental in shaping American education.