Too often evaluation findings end up on the shelf! Why? Many interventions have several moving parts working together to achieve something each part cannot do independently. Unfortunately, many of the available evaluation approaches oversimplify this reality. A major reason for this is that evaluators do not have a blueprint to plan, and the associated methods to execute, an evaluation fit for this purpose. As such, they revert to using methods with which they are familiar, but are not suitable, for evaluating complex interventions. Consequently, the evaluation findings do not make sense to decisionmakers, so they are ignored. This book provides evaluators of all skill levels with a simple 3-step framework, System Evaluation Theory, that will lead to more actionable recommendations because the methods better capture the reality in which interventions operate; that is as a system. The book first reviews the limitations of program evaluation approaches that pointed to a need for a different way of thinking, one grounded in systems. After defining a system, the book explains how SET is intentionally aligned to evaluate a system’s two essential properties: interdependence and emergence. Individual chapters are dedicated to explaining how to execute each SET step. Throughout, the author draws on real-world examples and those from his own evaluations to help bridge the theory-practice divide. The reader is then shown how to use SET to develop actionable recommendations.

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.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Hydraulic research is developing beyond the borders of traditional civil engineering to meet increasing demands in natural hazards, structural safety assessment and also environmental research. Hydraulic Engineering III contains 62 technical papers from the 3rd Technical Conference on Hydraulic Engineering (CHE 2014, Hong Kong, 13-14 December 2014), including the 2014 Structural and Civil Engineering Workshop (SCEW 2014) and the 4th Workshop on Environment and Safety Engineering (WESE 2014). The contributions reflect recent advances, discuss problems and identify challenges associated with engineering applications in hydraulic engineering, and showcase recent developments in the areas of hydraulic engineering and environmental engineering, and other related fields. Hydraulic Engineering III includes a wide variety of topics: hydraulic engineering (river engineering and sediment transport, waterway engineering, flood hazards and innovative control measures, geotechnical aspects in hydraulic engineering, rainfall modelling, water resources and water treatment, hydraulic structures, modelling technology in hydraulic engineering), structural and civil engineering (mechanics in engineering, and new structural advances such as reinforced concrete beam by high titanium blast furnace slag), and environmental issues (environmental fluid dynamics, environmental hydraulics and hydrology, and the environmental prediction and control techniques in waste and pollution, water pollution and ecosystem degradation, coastal engineering). Hydraulic Engineering III will be invaluable to academics and professionals in both hydraulic and environmental engineering.

Racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity has become of global importance in places where many never would have imagined. Increasing diversity in the U.S., Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Asia strongly suggests that a homogeneity-based focus is rapidly becoming an historical artifact. Therefore, culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) should no longer be viewed as a luxury or an option in our work as evaluators. The continued amplification of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity and awareness among the populations of the U.S. and other western nations insists that social science researchers and evaluators inextricably engage culturally responsive approaches in their work. It is unacceptable for most mainstream university evaluation programs, philanthropic agencies, training institutes sponsored by federal agencies, professional associations, and other entities to promote professional evaluation practices that do not attend to CRE. Our global demographics are a reality that can be appropriately described and studied within the context of complexity theory and theory of change (e.g., Stewart, 1991; Battram, 1999). And this perspective requires a distinct shift from “simple” linear cause-effect models and reductionist thinking to include more holistic and culturally responsive approaches. The development of policy that is meaningfully responsive to the needs of traditionally disenfranchised stakeholders and that also optimizes the use of limited resources (human, natural, and financial) is an extremely complex process. Fortunately, we are presently witnessing developments in methods, instruments, and statistical techniques that are mixed methods in their paradigm/designs and likely to be more effective in informing policymaking and decision-making. Culturally responsive evaluation is one such phenomenon that positions itself to be relevant in the context of dynamic international and national settings where policy and program decisions take place. One example of a response to address this dynamic and need is the newly established Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. CREA is an outgrowth of the collective work and commitments of a global community of scholars and practitioners who have contributed chapters to this edited volume. It is an international and interdisciplinary evaluation center that is grounded in the need for designing and conducting evaluations and assessments that embody cognitive, cultural, and interdisciplinary diversity so as to be actively responsive to culturally diverse communities and their aspirations. The Center’s purpose is to address questions, issues, theories, and practices related to CRE and culturally responsive educational assessment. Therefore, CREA can serve as a vehicle for our continuing discourse on culture and cultural context in evaluation and also as a point of dissemination for not only the work that is included in this edited volume, but for the subsequent work it will encourage.

This book introduces the main concepts of manufacturing systems and presents several evaluation approaches for these systems' evaluation. The relevant macroergonomics methods are summarized and the theoretical framework for Macroergonomic Compatibility construct is explained. This book presents a Macroergonomic Compatibility Model which proposes an instrument in the form of a Macroergonomic. The authors introduce a methodology to obtain a novel Macroergonomic Compatibility Index that enables manufacturing companies to assess and follow their progress on the implementation of macroergonomics practices.

The term "sustainability" has entered the lexicon of many academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, but to date does not appear to have been seriously consid ered within the systems community unless, perhaps, under other guises. Within the wider community there is no consensus around what sustainability means with some authors identifying 70 to 100 definitions of the term. Some see sustainability as the precise and quantifiable outcomes of biological systems whilst others see it in terms of processes rele vant to personal and organizational change with the potential to effect changes in our rela tionships with out environments. Internationally it has been increasingly used in relation to the term "sustainable development"--a term popularised by the Brundland Commis of definitions sion's report in 1987 entitled "Our Common Future. " Despite this diversity and polarised perception on its utility, unlike many other popular terms, it has not had its time and subsided quietly from our language. It is therefore timely for the systems com munity to explore the relationship between systems and sustainability in a range of con texts. Participants in this, the 5th International Conference of the United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS), have been invited to reflect critically on the contribution of sys tems thinking and action to sustainability-to the sustainability of personal relationships, the organizations in which live and work, and our "natural" environment.

Describes how to evaluate interactive learning systems, both in their initial development and later in regard to effectiveness and efficiency. These include web-based systems, computer-aided learning, etc.