Marvin C. Alkin, EdD, is Emeritus Professor in the Social Research Methods Division in the School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has written extensively on evaluation practice, evaluation utilization, and comparative evaluation theory. Dr. Alkin is a founder and former Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation. He has been a consultant to six national governments and has conducted more than 85 evaluations of a variety of educational, governmental, and foundation programs. He is a recipient of the Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award and the Research on Evaluation Award from the American Evaluation Association. Anne T. Vo, PhD, is Associate Professor of Health Systems Science and Senior Director of Assessment and Evaluation at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, where she leads the development and execution of the school’s educational evaluation strategies and policies. As a research methodologist and systems scientist, Dr. Vo has provided consultation services and evaluation support to more than 35 social services programs and organizations, using community-driven and equity-oriented methods. She has an extensive record of publications in peer-reviewed journals and has held regional and national leadership roles with the American Evaluation Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the Southern California Evaluation Association. Christina A. Christie, PhD, is the Wasserman Dean and Professor of Education in the Division of Social Research Methodology in the School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research is designed to strengthen understanding of evaluation as a method for facilitating social change and to advance frameworks for understanding evaluation models, with the goal of refining practice. Dr. Christie is a recipient of the Marcia Guttentag Early Career Award and the Research on Evaluation Award from the American Evaluation Association (AEA), as well as the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Research on Evaluation Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. She has served on the board of AEA and as an associate editor and section editor of the American Journal of Evaluation.
"""Alkin, Vo, and Christie invite you into 26 sessions (A-Z) where they guide, coach, and mentor you through the challenging evaluation landscape to conduct high-quality, useful evaluations. Follow their guidance. Practice their coaching tips. Absorb their mentoring wisdom. You will gain confidence as a practitioner, and like the authors--like me--you might just fall in love with evaluation.""--Michael Quinn Patton, PhD, Director, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Saint Paul, Minnesota ""Imagine being new to evaluation and having the opportunity to learn about the field from three generations of evaluators, each bringing their own perspective and considerable experience as scholars and practitioners. This book provides students and new evaluators with a comprehensive breakdown of the many processes involved in evaluation, including evaluation design, writing evaluation questions, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting to diverse audiences. My students love this text--they feel engaged and connected to the authors from the moment they open it. The third edition gives additional attention to working in sociopolitical and cultural contexts and building evaluation relationships with diverse participants, and has updated readings and thought questions throughout. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the practice of evaluation in a fun and easy-to-read format.""--Jill Anne Chouinard, PhD, Professor and Director, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada-"