Demystifying Evaluation

Practical Approaches for Researchers and Users

David Parsons author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bristol University Press

Published:22nd Feb '17

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Demystifying Evaluation cover

Social research practitioners and others working in the public and voluntary sectors, in academia and consultancy are increasingly under pressure to provide policy-related evidence with limited resources and rising expectations. Demystifying evaluation is an accessible introductory guide setting the foundations for tackling those challenges, explaining the options open to evaluators, their merits and uses, and how to make appropriate choices of research methods. Drawing on his experience of policy and programme evaluations for the public sector and outside, David Parsons provides a practical roadmap cutting across different evaluation theories. He covers issues such as managing expectations of evaluation, using and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, engaging stakeholders and providing action-orientated approaches to help end-users.

"Adds to an astonishingly slim collection of works that seek to make evaluation widely accessible. Prof Parsons' contribution has enormous potential to assist in the relationships building needed between evaluators and the policy community to enhance evaluation and its use." J Bradley Cousins, University of Ottawa
"This book gets to the heart of the practical and methodological issues evaluators face. An excellent resource for social researchers and commissioners alike." Lindsey Bowes, Research Director, CFE Research
"Evaluating the effects of spending public money is crucial, but in many policy areas it is easier said than done. David Parsons draws on his considerable experience in this very accessible introductory guide which will be of interest to both evaluators and policy leads." Barbara Leach, Head of Evaluation, WRAP
“A concise and highly engaging text that provides a valuable overview of the growing and important area of evaluation. Those new to evaluation; researchers, commissioners and policymakers alike, will find this book an accessible and important resource” Stephen Morris, Manchester Metropolitan University

ISBN: 9781447333906

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

216 pages