Main description:

"This is the evaluation book we've been waiting for! A must-read for all learning and working in the field."
-Amanda M. Olejarski, West Chester University

Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned is a candid collection of stories from seasoned evaluators from a variety of sectors sharing professional mistakes they have made in the past, and what they learned moving forward. As the only book of its kind, editor Kylie Hutchinson has collected a series of engaging, real-life examples that are both entertaining and informative. Each story offers universal lessons as takeaways, and discussion questions for reflective practice. The book is the perfect companion to anyone working in the evaluation field, and to instructors of program evaluation courses who want to bring the real world into their classroom.

Contents:

Foreword - Michael Quinn Patton
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I. MANAGE THE EVALUATION
Chapter 1. It's Not Me, It's You: The Value of Addressing Conflict Head On - Corey Newhouse
Chapter 2. The Scope Creep Train Wreck: How Responsive Evaluation Can Go Off the Rails - E. Jane Davidson
Chapter 3. The Buffalo Jump: Lessons After the Fall - Gail Vallance Barrington
Chapter 4. Evaluator Self-Evaluation: When Self-Flagellation Is Not Enough - Emma Williams
PART II. ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS
Chapter 5. That Alien Feeling: Engaging All Stakeholders in the Universe - Hallie Preskill
Chapter 6. Seeds of Failure: How the Evaluation of a West African Agricultural Scale Up Project Went Awry - Thomas Archibald
Chapter 7. I Didn't Know I Would Be a Tightrope Walker Someday: Balancing Evaluator Responsiveness and Independence - Rakesh Mohan
Chapter 8. When National Pride Is Beyond Facts: Navigating Conflicting Stakeholder Requirements - Felix Muramutsa
PART III. BUILD EVALUATION CAPACITY
Chapter 9. Stars in Our Eyes: What Happens When Things Are Too Good to Be True - Jara Dean-Coffey
PART IV. DESCRIBE THE PROGRAM
Chapter 10. A "Failed" Logic Model: How I Learned to Connect With All Stakeholders - Chris Lovato
Chapter 11. Lost Without You: A Lesson in System Mapping and Engaging Stakeholders - Kylie Hutchinson
PART V. FOCUS THE EVALUATION DESIGN
Chapter 12. You Got to Know When to Hold 'Em: An Evaluation That Went From Bad to Worse - Robert P. Shepherd
Chapter 13. The Evaluation From Hell: When Evaluators and Clients Don't Quite Fit - Marla Steinberg
PART VI. GATHER CREDIBLE EVIDENCE
Chapter 14. The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Evaluators: Dealing With Data Collection Surprises in the Field - Jan Noga
Chapter 15. Are You My Amigo, or My Chero? The Importance of Cultural Competence in Data Collection and Evaluation - Isaac D. Castillo
Chapter 16. OMG, Why Can't We Get the Data? A Lesson in Managing Evaluation Expectations - Jennifer Bisgard and Mary Pat Selvaggio
Chapter 17. No, Actually, This Project Has to Stop Now: Learning When to Pull the Plug - Karen Snyder
Chapter 18. Missing in Action: How Assumptions, Language, History, and Soft Skills Influenced a Cross-Cultural Participatory Evaluation - Susan Igras
PART VII. JUSTIFY CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 19. "This Is Highly Illogical": How a Spock Evaluator Learns That Context and Mixed Methods Are Everything - Benoit Gauthier
Chapter 20. The Ripple That Became a Splash: The Importance of Context and Why I Now Do Data Parties - Diana Tindall
Chapter 21. The Voldemort Evaluation: How I Learned to Survive Organizational Dysfunction, Confusion, and Distrust - Lisa O'Reilly
PART VIII. REPORT AND ENSURE USE
Chapter 22. The Only Way Out Is Through - Stephanie Evergreen
Conclusion