Yoland Wadsworth’s ground-breaking proposition is that the act of inquiry is the way by which every living organism and all collective human life goes about continuously learning, improving and changing. Building in Research and Evaluation explores this new approach, a basic theory of human understanding and action. By deepening our understanding about the cyclical processes of acting, observing, questioning, feeling, reflecting, thinking, planning and acting again, Wadsworth identifies how new life might be brought to what we do, both professionally, and personally. Far from being dry academic theory, she shows how this practice-derived evaluative inquiry process can drive progress toward social justice and human betterment. This book will open new vistas of thought and new methods of inquiry for the reflective practitioner in health, human services, education, social sciences. It is the theoretical capstone of a trilogy of best-selling books by Wadsworth, which also includes Everyday Evaluation on the Run and Do-it-Yourself Social Research.

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, authors Hallie Preskill and Darlene Russ-Eft 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.

Yoland Wadsworth’s ground-breaking proposition is that the act of inquiry is the way by which every living organism and all collective human life goes about continuously learning, improving and changing. Building in Research and Evaluation explores this new approach, a basic theory of human understanding and action. By deepening our understanding about the cyclical processes of acting, observing, questioning, feeling, reflecting, thinking, planning and acting again, Wadsworth identifies how new life might be brought to what we do, both professionally, and personally. Far from being dry academic theory, she shows how this practice-derived evaluative inquiry process can drive progress toward social justice and human betterment. This book will open new vistas of thought and new methods of inquiry for the reflective practitioner in health, human services, education, social sciences. It is the theoretical capstone of a trilogy of best-selling books by Wadsworth, which also includes Everyday Evaluation on the Run and Do-it-Yourself Social Research.

The main aim of this book is to present an intriguing retrospective of Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) as it evolved from Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) over the past 25 years. On one hand, this is done by updating original authors' chapter content of Building Evaluation, the first edition published in 1989. That, in turn, is augmented by an orientation toward current and future practice on the other, including new authors who are engaged in ongoing, cutting edge projects. Therefore, individual, methodology oriented chapters covering the fundamental principles of POE and BPE go along with major thematic chapters, topics of which like sustainability or integration of new technologies are addressed in a diversity of case studies from around the globe. Research, methodologies, and framework of POEs continue to evolve. POEs are one step, on the larger scale of BPE, in understanding how buildings function after they are occupied. This resource helps a rchitects, building owners, and facility managers understand the implications and reactions to the facilities that they designed, built and/or commissioned. By considering the whole process from conception to future uses of the building, there can be a more holistic approach to the planning, programming, design, construction, occupancy, and future adaptability of the structure. This book is dedicated to first editor Wolfgang F. E. Preiser who passed away during the process of editing and reviewing chapters of this volume.

From distinguished scholar Donna M. Mertens, this core book provides a framework for making methodological decisions and conducting research and evaluations that promote social justice. The transformative paradigm has emerged from - and guides - a broad range of social and behavioral science research projects with communities that have been pushed to the margins, such as ethnic, racial, and sexual minority group members and children and adults with disabilities. Mertens shows how to formulate research questions based on community needs, develop researcher-community partnerships grounded in trust and respect, and skillfully apply quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods data collection strategies. Practical aspects of analyzing and reporting results are addressed, and numerous sample studies are presented. An ideal core book for graduate courses, or practitioner resource, the book includes: Commentary on the sample studies that explains what makes them transformative. Explanations of key concepts related to oppression, social justice, and the role of research and evaluation. Questions for Thought to stimulate critical self-reflection and discussion. Advance chapter organizers and chapter summaries. The book is intended for graduate students in psychology, education, social work, sociology, and nursing, as well as practicing researchers and program evaluators. It will serve as a core book or supplement in Research Methods, Program Evaluation, and Community Psychology courses.

This book is valuable to those involved in the evaluation of public organisations. Particularly insightful is the realization that similar challenges faced in various organizations are addressed with very different solutions.

This book is about building evaluation in the broadest sense and it transcends the meaning and conventional boundaries of the evolving field of "post-occupancy evalu ation" by focusing on evaluation throughout the building delivery process. This process is seen not just as being linear with a product in mind, i. e. , the completed and occupied building, but rather, it is seen as a cyclic evolution which has as its goal the continuous improvement of the quality of buildings. This goal can only be accomplished if evaluation occurs throughout the building delivery process, and if: 1. the evaluation that does occur is systematic and rigorous, 2. the data that is obtained can be fed into data bases and clearinghouses for use in future generations of buildings, and; 3. there is continuity in information flow. The idea for this book originated with a symposium that was part of a conference held at the Technical University in Delft, Netherlands, in July of 1988, i. e. , lAPS 10, the tenth biannual conference of the "International Association for the Study of People and their Physical Surroundings. " Authors presented papers based on their book chapters, and discussions ensued about the expanded boundaries of the field, about theoretical, methodological, and practical issues, as well as applications in building evaluation. Other relevant topics were identified and several additional authors were invited to participate in order to round out the contents of this book.

Publisher Description

This text provides an introduction to the theory and practice of internal evaluation. It presents the stages of internal evaluation growth, ways of identifying users' needs and selecting appropriate evaluation methods.