Program Evaluation: Forms and approaches

by John M Owen

Program Evaluation 3rd edition has the hallmarks of thoroughness, insight and fluency of other editions but brings us up to date with a map of the evaluation territory new travelers will find invaluable.'

Professor Murray Saunders, UK and European Evaluation Societies

John Owen's Program Evaluation helps practitioners clarify distinctions between what we evaluate, the various motivations for conducting evaluation, and the approaches attendant to each. Timely evaluation examples liberally sprinkled throughout this book make it exceptionally useful and helpful to practitioners. I highly recommend Program Evaluation .'

Professor Marvin Alkin, UCLA Graduate School of Education + Information Studies

Everyone involved with policy and program development and delivery is being asked to plan more carefully, reflect more critically and justify their decisions. The key to this is evaluation.

Program Evaluation offers a conceptual yet straightforward and practical overview of the evaluation process for both beginners and experienced practitioners. It shows evaluators how to identify appropriate forms, approaches and methods, using an original framework. John Owen examines the contributions of evaluation to program provision, and offers proven techniques for involving stakeholders in the planning process and for disseminating the evaluation findings.

This third edition has been thoroughly revised to incorporate recent research on evaluation and new examples of good practice. It includes sections of management of evaluation, negotiating evaluation plans, program logic and ex ante evaluation, evidence based practice, performance management and accountability.

With international examples from a range of health, education, welfare, community and other settings, Program Evaluation is an essential reference for anyone involved in evaluation in both the public and private sectors.

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Gordon Eldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating of three stars is based on the product description, which also appears on the back cover of the book:

"Program Evaluation offers a conceptual yet straightforward and practical overview of the evaluation process for both beginners and experienced practitioners."

I would not describe this book as a 'practical overview'. It is certainly not the case that you could read the book and then plan an evaluation of any kind. The book gives an excellent and very useful theoretical taxonomy of types, or forms, of evaluation. As a theoretical taxonomy, I would rate the book with four stars. For each of these forms, the book suggests different methods that could be used to achieve the purposes of the particular form. The descriptions of the methods are quite varied. Some are reasonably detailed, others very skeletal. There is not enough detail in any of them to serve as the basis for planning an evaluation, though Owen does give references which can be followed up for further detail and examples.

As a typology, the book is useful. As a practical guide, much less so.

[Jennifer Churchill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the detailed case studies that were used to demonstrate the form of program Evaluation being discussed.
I wish there was an expansion in terms of the rationale that was used for determining why that particular approach within that form was being used.