Evaluation Theories

Completion status: this resource is ~25% complete.

Introduction edit

This course will be primarily based on students notes taken at 'PSYCH 315z – Comparative Evaluation Theory' in Claremont Graduate University, and publicly available documents from 'EVAL 6000: Foundations of Evaluation' at Western Michigan University.


Week 1 has an overview of the current state of evaluation that extends into Week 2 with Weeks 2-

Outline: edit

Weeks 1-2 In the first week we read William Shadish's 1998 presidential address to the American Evaluation Association (AEA), and the first chapter in Shadish, Cook, & Leviton's "Foundations of Program Evaluation: Theories of Practice". Weaknesses: See Discussion

  1. William Shadish's "Evaluation theory is who we are" (Article; 19 pages, 11,417 words)
  2. "Foundations of Program Evaluation: Theories of Practice", (Textbook; 17p,
  3. Introduction: Comparing evaluation points of view (Shadish, Cook, & Leviton's, 1991)

In the second week, we go through the first four chapters of Alkin's "Evaluation Roots" CH. 1 (Introduction) and Ch.2 "An evaluation theory tree," Ch. 3: "Michael S. Scriven: The science of valuing." and Foundations of Program Evaluation, Ch. 2: "Good theory for social program evaluation."

In the third week read Foundations of Program Evaluation Ch. 2, Ch. 7, and Ch. 8:

  1. Chapter 4: "Donald T. Campbell: Methodologist of the experimenting society." (Moved from wk.
  2. Ch. 7: Robert E. Stake: Responsive evaluation and qualitative methods.
  3. Ch. 8: Lee J. Cronbach: Functional evaluation design for a world of political accommodation.


  • Week 4: Independent study on Michael Scriven, Thomas Cook, Jennifer C. Greene, David Fetterman,
  • Week 5: Independent study on Patton, Cronbach, Chen, Guba & Lincoln
  • Week 6: Independent study on Preskill, Greene, Guba & Lincoln, House

In the third week

Week by Week Class Notes edit



  Educational level: this is a tertiary (university) resource.
  Type classification: this resource is a course.

Template:Evaluation

  Completion status: Been started, but most of the work is still to be done.