Hallie S. Preskill

The Second Edition of Building Evaluation Capacity provides 89 highly structured activities which require minimal instructor preparation and encourage application-based learning of how to design and conduct evaluation studies. Ideal for use in program evaluation courses, professional development workshops, and organization stakeholder trainings, the activities cover the entire process of evaluation, including: understanding what evaluation is; the politics and ethics; the influence of culture; various models, approaches and designs; data collection and analysis methods; communicating and reporting progress and findings; and building and sustaining support. Each activity includes an overview, instructional objectives, minimum and maximum number of participants, range of time required, materials needed, primary instructional method, and procedures for facilitators to help learners in the most common evaluation practices.

"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, Evaluation Journal of Australasia"This important volume represents a paradigm shift in the evaluation field – presenting an approach that shifts evaluation from being something that we 'should' do to something that stakeholders can 'look forward' to doing, even something they might actually love doing… turning what can often be drudgery that ends up with reports that sit on shelves to dynamic processes that are downright fun, while at the same time profound, resulting in accelerating positive change in organizations, programs, and those who are part of them. The book challenges the basic tenets underlying evaluation, pushes the boundaries of the discipline. The field may never be the same." —Malcolm J. Odell, Jr., Appreciative Inquiry Consulting, LLC "I am delighted that the authors have taken AI and found new uses for this approach. They provide concrete examples of the many ways evaluators have successfully used the AI approach in a wide variety of program and geographic settings. Combining theory and practice, this book is an important contribution to the evaluation field." —Gail Johnson, The Evergreen State College—Gail Johnson, 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. Key Features: Provides a step-by-step guide: Written in a clear, accessible style, the text explains the way this particular approach has been used to frame, design, and conduct evaluations in various sectors worldwide. Reflects specific real-world applications of AI to evaluation practice: Numerous U. S.-based and international case examples enhance readers' ability to see the nuances of applying AI to evaluation in a wide variety of international and multicultural, organizational, community, and population contexts. Offers a whole-systems approach: This text provides a whole systems approach which enables evaluation to deal with complex and dynamically changing programs. Intended Audience: This book will appeal to a broad audience that includes evaluators, management and organization development consultants, program staff, and researchers in a wide variety of organizational and community settings. It is an ideal supplemental text for graduate courses that require students to practice evaluation.

How does evaluative inquiry contribute to your organizational learning? How do you practice evaluative inquiry to maximize individual and team learning? Offering you a way of thinking about and conducting evaluative inquiry in every kind of organization, Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations provides a data-based approach to organizational learning and change. By focusing on the use of evaluative inquiry processes within organizations rather than across large-scale, multisite programs, authors Hallie Preskill and Rosalie T. Torres are able to bridge the gap between what research "says" about individual, team, and organizational learning and what it "says" about evaluation. The authors lay the foundation and context for evaluative inquiry by including: - How organizations are changing. - What it means to learn at the individual, team, and organizational levels. - The four learning processes that facilitate evaluative inquiry. Through the use of an illustrative case, the authors guide you through the three phases of evaluative inquiry - from focusing the inquiry to developing action plans. Also included are interviews from four different organizations: Land O'Lakes, Colorado Department of Education, Ford Motor Company, and Presbyterian Hospital and Healthcare Services. These interviews allow you to "hear" how participants perceived and experienced these procedures. This exciting volume concludes with additional considerations when practicing evaluative inquiry, including an exploration of the evaluator's role and challenges to implementing evaluative inquiry in today's organizations. Written for evaluators, managers, consultants, and trainers, Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations shows you how to integrate evaluative inquiry into your organization's work processes so that its members are better able to make their organizations successful.