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Values in Evaluation and Social Research
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Values in Evaluation and Social Research

  • Ernest . House - University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
  • Kenneth R. Howe - University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

Other Titles in:
Evaluation (General)

September 1999 | 176 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Using the tools of philosophy and the insights from evaluation practice this book examines the concept of values in program evaluation. The authors analyze four views of facts and values in evaluation: those rooted in a fact-value dichotomy; those of radical constructivists; those of postmodernists; and those of deliberative democrats. The arguments are tough, the explanations concise and the insights compelling.

`Goes well beyong recognizing that all data gathering and description are value laden. The authors of this book examine the ethical and political burdens accompanying any evaluation contract. House has gained a reputation in professional exchanges as an advocate of the underprivileged. Out of an extended collaboration, Howe and House together redirect their advocacy towards the pursuit of democracy' - Robert E Stake, University of Illinois, Urbana

`A breakthrough book that will change the way evaluators think about the relationship between facts and values. The authors attack the inconsistencies in current thinking about the interplay of facts and values and give us an outline for reconstituting the approach to values within evaluation' - Gary T Henry, Georgia State University

 
Introduction
The Problem of Values

 
 
PART ONE: VALUE CLAIMS
 
Facts and Values
 
Evaluative Reasoning
 
PART TWO: CRITIQUES OF OTHER VIEWS
 
The Received View
 
The Radical Constructivist View
 
The Postmodern View
 
PART THREE: DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRATIC EVALUATION
 
The Deliberative Democratic View
 
Good Practice
 
Conclusion
The Role of Evaluation in Society

 

"This book, as the title promises, unfurls the concept of value in the practice of program evaluation. The editors go well beyond recognizing that all data gathering and description are value laden and that all evaluators have value commitments shaping thei designs. They examine the ethical and political burdens accompanying any evaluation contract. Out of an extended collaboration, Kenneth R. Howe and Ernest R. House together redirect their advocacy toward the pursuit of democracy." 

Robert E. Stake
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

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