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The Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) is a volunteer-driven, professional organization of members who are dedicated to the advancement of evaluation theory and practice. CESBC is the BC Chapter of the CES, also serving CES members in the Yukon. To email someone volunteering with CESBC, remember to change '@...' to '@evaluationcanada.ca'

About Evaluation

We are often asked, what is evaluation? What does it mean?

We have added some formal definitions and references here. We invite CESBC members and other members of the evaluation community to submit your own definitions or your favourite references on the discussion forum.

What is Evaluation?

As a field of study, evaluation has been defined many times. Some popular definitions are:

  • Professional evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance. (Scriven and Donaldson, 2003, p. 27)
  • Evaluation is an applied inquiry process for collecting and synthesizing evidence that culminates in conclusions about the state or affairs, value, merit, worth, significance, or quality of a program, product, person, policy, proposal, or plan. Conclusion made in evaluations encompass both an empirical aspect (that something is the case) and a normative aspect (judgment about the value of something). It is the value feature that distinguishes evaluation from other types of inquiry, such as basic science research, clinical epidemiology, investigative journalism, or public polling. (Deborah M. Fournier in Mathison's Encyclopedia of Evaluation).

Within the CESBC 'evaluation' is the profession or practice of systematic research. 

Evaluation  Resources

Whether you are looking to start your own library, or just need a quick definition these below references are a good place to start.

Books

  • Donaldson, Stewart Ian & Scriven, Michael (Eds).(2003). Evaluating Social Programs and Problems: Visions for the New Millennium. Claremont:Taylor & Francis
  • Mathison, Sandra. (ed.). (2005), Encyclopedia of Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. (Sponsored by the American Evaluation Association).
  • McDavid, James C. and Hawthorn, Laura R. L. (2005) Program Evaluation & Performance Measurement: An Introduction to Practice‎. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Journals 

 
 
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