Evaluating and Valuing in Social Research PDF Download

Author: Thomas A. Schwandt
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 146254732X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Much applied research takes place as if complex social problems--and evaluations of interventions to address them--can be dealt with in a purely technical way. In contrast, this groundbreaking book offers an alternative approach that incorporates sustained, systematic reflection about researchers' values, what values research promotes, how decisions about what to value are made and by whom, and how judging the value of social interventions takes place. The authors offer practical and conceptual guidance to help researchers engage meaningfully with value conflicts and refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation. Pedagogical features include a detailed evaluation case, "Bridge to Practice" exercises and annotated resources in most chapters, and an end-of-book glossary.

Author: Thomas A. Schwandt
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462547338
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"This book offers conceptual and practical guidance to social researchers and evaluators who intend to navigate the tangled and complicated terrain of values, valuing, and evaluating. We focus on understanding how these phenomena and associated practices are at work in social research, what investigators can and should do in dealing with such matters, and how their actions relate to longstanding concerns about objectivity, impartiality, the nature and use of evidence, and the purpose(s) of applied social research. Our primary aim is to help researchers become more explicit about values, valuing and evaluative judgments in their practices and to refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation guided by standards of reasonableness"--

Author: Nicole Barnes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351676911
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Cases of Teachers’ Data Use addresses applications of student data beyond theoretical, school-, and district-level examinations by presenting case studies of teachers’ data use in practice. Within the context of data-driven education reform policies, the authors examine the effective and ineffective ways that teachers make use of student data in instruction, evaluation, and planning. Promising practices, based on the empirical research presented, offer strategies and routines for sound data use that can be applied in schools. Chapters written by scholars from diverse methodological perspectives offer readers multiple lenses to use in considering issues of data use such that current theoretical assumptions may be challenged and the field advanced. This uniquely focused yet comprehensive work is an indispensable resource for researchers and students interested in classroom assessment and for professionals looking to support teachers’ use of student performance data for adaptive instruction.

Author: Donna Podems
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462537804
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Demystifying the evaluation journey, this is the first evaluation mentoring book that addresses the choices, roles, and challenges that evaluators must navigate in the real world. Experienced evaluator and trainer Donna R. Podems covers both conceptual and technical aspects of practice in a friendly, conversational style. She focuses not just on how to do evaluations but how to think like an evaluator, fostering reflective, ethical, and culturally sensitive practice. Extensive case examples illustrate the process of conceptualizing and implementing an evaluation--clarifying interventions, identifying beneficiaries, gathering data, discussing results, valuing, and developing recommendations. The differences (and connections) between research, evaluation, and monitoring are explored. Handy icons identify instructive features including self-study exercises, group activities, clarifying questions, facilitation and negotiation techniques, insider tips, advice, and resources. Purchasers can access a companion website to download and print reproducible materials for some of the activities and games described in the book.

Author: Kathryn E. Newcomer
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 180392828X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 729

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Book Description
In the Research Handbook on Program Evaluation, an impressive range of authors take stock of the history and current standing of key issues and debates in the evaluation field. Examining current literature of program evaluation, the Research Handbook assesses the field's status in a post-pandemic and social justice-oriented world, examining today’s theoretical and practical concerns and proposing how they might be resolved by future innovations. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

Author: Peter Henry Rossi
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description

Author: Marvin C. Alkin
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462555446
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
"Beloved for its conversational style and reliable advice, this text is now in a revised and updated third edition, reflecting key developments in evaluation. It includes expanded coverage of equity and social justice issues, values and cost analysis, visualizing qualitative data with software, and more. Twenty-six concise chapters or "sessions" give students, applied researchers, and program administrators a solid foundation for conducting or using evaluations. Covering both quantitative and qualitative methods, the book emphasizes fostering evaluation use. It shows how to build collaborative relationships with users; formulate answerable evaluation questions; deal with contingencies that might alter the traditional sequence of an evaluation; and collect, analyze, and report data. Student-friendly features throughout the sessions include titles written as questions, bulleted recaps, "Thinking Ahead" and "Next Steps" pointers, cautionary notes, and annotated suggestions for further reading. An in-depth case study provides the basis for end-of-session practice exercises. Key Words/Subject Areas: evaluating, programs, policy, planning, evaluations, applied research methods, courses, classes, introductory, textbooks, graduate students, assessments, educational, outcomes, approaches, becoming an evaluator, logic models, resources, case studies, effectiveness, theory and practice, social justice Audience: Graduate students and instructors in education, psychology, social work, nursing, management, and public policy; applied researchers who need a refresher on conducting evaluations; educational administrators and program administrators who use evaluations in their work"--

Author: Sue L. T. McGregor
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506350976
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 880

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Book Description
Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide shows students how to be critical consumers of research and to appreciate the power of methodology as it shapes the research question, the use of theory in the study, the methods used, and how the outcomes are reported. The book starts with what it means to be a critical and uncritical reader of research, followed by a detailed chapter on methodology, and then proceeds to a discussion of each component of a research article as it is informed by the methodology. The book encourages readers to select an article from their discipline, learning along the way how to assess each component of the article and come to a judgment of its rigor or quality as a scholarly report.

Author: Marvin C. Alkin
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0761928944
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Initially, evaluation was derived from social science research methodology and accountability concerns. This book examines evaluation theories and traces their evolution with the point of view that theories build upon theories and, therefore, evaluation theories are related to each other.

Author: Thomas Schwandt
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080479572X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Evaluation examines policies and programs across every arena of human endeavor, from efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS to programs that drive national science policy. Relying on a vast array of methods, from qualitative interviewing to econometrics, it is a "transdiscipline," as opposed to a formal area of academic study. Accounting for these challenges, Evaluation Foundations Revisited offers an introduction for those seeking to better understand evaluation as a professional field. While the acquisition of methods and methodologies to meet the needs of certain projects is important, the foundation of evaluative practice rests on understanding complex issues to balance. Evaluation Foundations Revisited is an invitation to examine the intellectual, practical, and philosophical nexus that lies at the heart of evaluation. Thomas A. Schwandt shows how to critically engage with the assumptions that underlie how evaluators define and position their work, as well as how they argue for the usefulness of evaluation in society. He looks at issues such as the role of theory, how notions of value and valuing are understood, how evidence is used, how evaluation is related to politics, and what comprises scientific integrity. By coming to better understand the foundations of evaluation, readers will develop what Schwandt terms "a life of the mind of practice," which enables evaluators to draw on a more holistic view to develop reasoned arguments and well fitted techniques.