Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The book provides an in-depth examination of the history and discipline of evaluation, as well as its treatment of the subjects of ethics, justice, and professionalism. . . . The strength of the book is, without question, Ernest R. House′s many years of experience as an evaluator and his proposition that evaluation, as an institution, profession, and discipline, represents a strong and significant force in the process of social change. --Evaluation and Program Planning "This book pushes back the frontiers Ernest R. House has already established with his previous work in the political and social dimensions of professional evaluation. It represents the thoughtful reflections of an experienced evaluator with an unusual talent for original perspectives on this complex and vital emergent discipline." --Michael Scriven, Director, Evaluation Institute, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology "For 25 years, Ernest R. House has watched us who specialize in program evaluation, recording and interpreting in the best of qualitative ways, the maturation of our field. In this book, he portrays us as white collar migrant workers; carded, coddled, and manipulated by governments, reluctant to leave the comfort of social science but having outgrown that dependency, reaching toward what Michael Scriven called a transdiscipline. If Lee Cronbach once made us wince by revealing our political blood, House startles us, exposing neural ties with ethics, technocracy, capitalism, manifest destiny, even craniometry. Popping bluerock metaphors from liberal left to libertarian right, House declares us to be complex creature of nature and nurture, seldom acting of our own free will. It is a magical, mythological tour. "Never before has the special work of the program evaluator been shown to be immersed in and buffeted by such a diverse array of social, political, and philosophical currents. In an appealing mix of personal reminiscence and social commentary, Ernie House has collected a fine album of the early years of program evaluation." --Robert E. Stake, Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Why do we have evaluation? Is evaluation a discipline? How much impact does evaluation have on government, education, or politics? Can social problems, such as poverty, be solved like engineering problems by the application of resources and intelligence? By exploring how evaluation has evolved as a discipline, science, and profession, House examines how evaluation impacts modern societies and the issues that this impact (social force) raises for evaluators. Addressing such issues as pluralism vs. managerialism, quantitative vs. qualitative methodologies, the purpose of higher education for knowledge production vs. educating people for professions, clientism, and multicultural concerns, House traces how evaluation has evolved as a basis for determining where the field should go--and, how.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Evaluation in Advanced Capitalist Society
• Trends
• Evaluation as an Institution and Profession
• Government and Evaluation
• Higher Education
• An Example
• Evaluation as a Discipline
• The Legacy of US Social Science
• Social Justice
• Methodology and Justice
• Evaluation in Multicultural Societies
• Professional Ethics

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

House's book provides reflective insight into program evaluation activities. Its perspective challenges readers to examine their knowledge and program evaluation practices. Beginning with an introduction that defines evaluation as part of the American economic fabric, House charts the development of evaluation as a profession and as an institution. Attempting to provide an international comparative view, House offers a brief description of government evaluation in the US, Britain, Canada, and Europe in the first three chapters. He then provides an illustration of evaluation in higher education that is valuable but seems limited in relation to the book's basic goals. House describes evaluation criteria for a given discipline and shows the linkage between academe and evaluation. In the last four chapters he poses critical issues for program evaluators and professional evaluation organizations. To gain a full understanding, one should read Toward Reform of Program Evaluation, ed. by Lee J. Cronbach et al. (1980). For libraries with extensive collections in program evaluation and social science. Good bibliography. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty; professional. J. H. Larson; University of North Dakota