Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry

Front Cover
"I enjoyed the book. I found the approach refreshing and useful. The structure of the book made the argument easy to follow...Practitioners of evaluation, or any organizational change process, will find the approach useful.--Anona Armstrong, Evaluation Journal of Australasia"This important volume represents a paradigm shift in the evaluation field - presenting an approach that shifts evaluation from being something that we ′should′ do to something that stakeholders can ′look forward′ to doing, even something they might actually love doing... turning what can often be drudgery that ends up with reports that sit on shelves to dynamic processes that are downright fun, while at the same time profound, resulting in accelerating positive change in organizations, programs, and those who are part of them. The book challenges the basic tenets underlying evaluation, pushes the boundaries of the discipline. The field may never be the same." --Malcolm J. Odell, Jr., Appreciative Inquiry Consulting, LLC

"I am delighted that the authors have taken AI and found new uses for this approach. They provide concrete examples of the many ways evaluators have successfully used the AI approach in a wide variety of program and geographic settings. Combining theory and practice, this book is an important contribution to the evaluation field." --Gail Johnson, The Evergreen State College

--Gail Johnson,

Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry is the first book to introduce the application of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), an approach for organizational development and change, to the practice of evaluation. Authors Hallie Preskill and Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas lay out the theoretical foundation of AI and build a bridge between the theory and practice of applying AI to evaluation. Key Features:

  • Provides a step-by-step guide: Written in a clear, accessible style, the text explains the way this particular approach has been used to frame, design, and conduct evaluations in various sectors worldwide.
  • Reflects specific real-world applications of AI to evaluation practice: Numerous U.S.-based and international case examples enhance readers′ ability to see the nuances of applying AI to evaluation in a wide variety of international and multicultural, organizational, community, and population contexts.
  • Offers a whole-systems approach: This text provides a whole systems approach which enables evaluation to deal with complex and dynamically changing programs.

Intended Audience: This book will appeal to a broad audience that includes evaluators, management and organization development consultants, program staff, and researchers in a wide variety of organizational and community settings. It is an ideal supplemental text for graduate courses that require students to practice evaluation.

From inside the book

Contents

Introducing Appreciative Inquiry
1
Using Appreciative Inquiry in Evaluation Practice
35
Focusing the Evaluation Using Appreciative Inquiry
51
Designing and Conducting Interviews and Surveys Using Appreciative Inquiry
75
Using Appreciative Inquiry to Develop Evaluation Systems
99
Building Evaluation Capacity Through Appreciative Inquiry
119
Crossing Boundaries and Evaluation Innovation
139
Using Appreciative Inquiry at Evergreen Cove
141
References
153
Index
161
About the Authors
169
Copyright

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About the author (2006)

Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas, M.P.P., is President of EnCompass LLC and brings 20 years of experience in evaluation, knowledge management, e-learning, and training. Ms. Catsambas is an innovator and practitioner in appreciative evaluation methods. Starting in 1998, she experimented with the use of appreciative inquiry in an evaluation of healthcare quality assurance activities in Chile. This became the first published work in appreciative evaluation in the Journal for International Health Care Quality, Volume 14, Supplement I, December 2002. She has continued to refine appreciative evaluation methods through her work with many clients in diverse settings including the World Bank, the United Nations, the Pubic Broadcasting Service, CARE International, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and others. Ms. Catsambas brings her rich field experience to her training and has conducted annual training sessions at the American Evaluation Association Annual Conference since 2002. She has coauthored two chapters on appreciative evaluation methods (Preskill & Coghlan, New Directions for Evaluation #100, 2003). Her other clients include the U.S. Department of Labor, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, the U.S.Agency for International Development, Peace Corps, and the United Nations Foundation. She holds a Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University.

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