Performance Evaluation: Proven Approaches for Improving Program and Organizational Performance(Research Methods for the Social Sciences)

Performance Evaluation is a hands-on text for practitioners, researchers, educators, and students in how to use scientifically-based evaluations that are both rigorous and flexible. Author Ingrid Guerra-López, an internationally-known evaluation expert, introduces the foundations of evaluation and presents the most applicable models for the performance improvement field. Her book offers a wide variety of tools and techniques that have proven successful and is organized to illustrate evaluation in the context of continual performance improvement.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii The Author xv Part One: Introduction To Evaluation One: Foundations of Evaluation 3 A Brief Overview of Evaluation History 4 Evaluation: Purpose and Definition 5 Performance Improvement: A Conceptual Framework 8 Making Evaluation Happen: Ensuring Stakeholders’ Buy-In 9 The Evaluator: A Job or a Role? 10 The Relationship to Other Investigative Processes 11 When Does Evaluation Occur? 15 General Evaluation Orientations 18 Challenges That Evaluators Face 20 Ensuring Commitment 23 Benefits of Evaluation 24 Basic Definitions 25 Two: Principles of Performance-based Evaluation 27 Principle 1: Evaluation Is Based on Asking the Right Questions 28 Principle 2: Evaluation of Process Is a Function of Obtained Results 32 Principle 3: Goals and Objectives of Organizations Should Be Based on Valid Needs 33 Principle 4: Derive Valid Needs Using a Top-Down Approach 34 Principle 5: Every Organization Should Aim for the Best That Society Can Attain 34 Principle 6: The Set of Evaluation Questions Drives the Evaluation Study 35 Part Two: Models of Evaluation Three: Overview of Existing Evaluation Models 39 Overview of Classic Evaluation Models 40 Selected Evaluation Models 42 Selecting a Model 43 Conceptualizing a Useful Evaluation That Fits the Situation 44 Four: KIRKPATRICK’S Four LEVELS Of Evaluation 47 Kirkpatrick’s Levels 49 Comments on the Model 54 Strengths and Limitations 55 Application Example: Wagner (1995) 56 Five: Phillips’s Return-on-investment Methodology 61 Phillips’s ROI Process 63 Comments on the Model 67 Strengths and Limitations 70 Application Example: Blake (1999) 70 Six: Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method 75 The SCM Process 77 Strengths and Weaknesses 78 Application Example: Brinkerhoff (2005) 79 Seven: the Impact Evaluation Process 81 The Elements of the Process 83 Comments on the Model 96 Strengths and Limitations 97 Application Example 97 Eight: the Cipp Model 107 Stufflebeam’s Four Types of Evaluation 108 Articulating Core Values of Programs and Solutions 111 Methods Used in CIPP Evaluations 112 Strengths and Limitations 113 Application Example: Filella-Guiu and Blanch-Pana (2002) 113 Nine: Evaluating Evaluations 117 Evaluation Standards 119 The American Evaluation Association Principles for Evaluators 120 Application Example: Lynch et al. (2003) 122 Part Three: Tools and Techniques of Evaluation Ten: Data 133 Characteristics of Data 135 Scales of Measurement 137 Defining Required Data from Performance Objectives 139 Deriving Measurable Indicators 141 Finding Data Sources 152 Follow-Up Questions and Data 155 Eleven: Data Collection 159 Observation Methodology and the Purpose of Measurement 160 Designing the Experiment 186 Problems with Classic Experimental Studies in Applied Settings 188 Time-Series Studies 188 Simulations and Games 189 Document-Centered Methods 191 Conclusion 192 Twelve: Analysis of Evaluation Data: Tools and Techniques 195 Analysis of Models and Patterns 196 Analysis Using Structured Discussion 197 Methods of Quantitative Analysis 199 Statistics 200 Graphical Representations of Data 210 Measures of Relationship 212 Inferential Statistics: Parametric and Nonparametric 214 Interpretation 217 Thirteen: Communicating The Findings 221 Recommendations 222 Considerations for Implementing Recommendations 225 Developing the Report 226 The Evaluator’s Role After the Report 235 Part Four: Continual Improvement Fourteen: Common Errors in Evaluation 239 Errors of System Mapping 240 Errors of Logic 242 Errors of Procedure 244 Conclusion 246 Fifteen: Continual Improvement 249 What Is Continual Improvement? 250 Monitoring Performance 250 Adjusting Performance 253 The Role of Leadership 254 Sixteen: Contracting for Evaluation Services 257 The Contract 258 Contracting Controls 260 Ethics and Professionalism 262 Sample Statement of Work 262 Seventeen: Intelligence Gathering For Decision Making 271 Performance Measurement Systems 273 Issues in Performance Measurement Systems 275 Conclusion 277 Eighteen: the Future of Evaluation in Performance Improvement 279 Evaluation and Measurement in Performance Improvement Today 281 What Does the Future Hold? 282 Conclusion 283 References and Related Readings 285 Index 295

About the Author :
Ingrid J. Guerra-López, PhD, is an associate professor at Wayne State University, director of the Institute for Learning and Performance Improvement, associate research professor at the Sonora Institute of Technology in Mexico, and principal of Intelligence Gathering Systems.