Evaluation Research is an introduction to "some of the fundamental principles of
evaluation". It is a very worthwhile textbook, clearly and simply written. The authors, in
their introduction, espouse no particular line or commitment. Ch.1, "Understanding
Evaluation" is an overview, presenting initial definitions, locating evaluation among other
activities, and portraying the relation to other social science. What makes evaluation
different is the intended objective - its action orientation, the determination of "the value
or impact of a policy, programme, practice intervention or service, with a view to making
recommendations for a change." Evaluation research otherwise draws on the methods
and concerns of the social sciences. The chapter reviews some familiar major stances.
Ch.2., "Quantity and Quality: Paradigmatic Choices in Evaluation Methodology",
assembles the complex debates in the area under a mere two headings, with quantitative
"positivist" and qualitative "interpretive" (or whatever synonyms are preferred). This is
not allowed to get out of hand: for example, more space is devoted to experimental and
quasi-experimental designs (and their critics) than is devoted to variations in the
"qualitative" camp. Ch.3 looks generally, and basically, at methods of data collection.
Chs 4 6 are each devoted to an extended account of evaluation in an area, respectively,
Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention Programmes, Health Care, and Evaluating
Schools. Each is a selective review, taking themes, most strikingly in the education case,
which focusses swiftly on to OFSTED inspection. These chapters provide plenty of
useful examples and good illustrations for those looking at evaluation for the first time.
Like comparable American texts, however, the flavour given is of large-scale programme
evaluation, with, at least initially, a relatively "managerial" view of what evaluation is
about. The final, brief, chapter is on utilisation, and some of the factors that can make
sponsors and stakeholders react well to particular evaluations.
The book's target audience seems to be third year "social research methods" students ,
perhaps on an "Applied" degree or for master's students contemplating their own
evaluation projects. Anyone wanting a quick review of current examples of evaluation in
the U.K. could consult it with profit. As a new U.K. textbook, using U.K. examples, in a
field where U.S. texts dominate, it is to be welcomed. Its clarity and comprehensibility
are also worthwhile features. However, it cannot, I think, be cited alone. It is limited on
"critical" perspectives on and in evaluation. The divisions in Ch.2 certainly simplify the
standard division of positive, interpretative, and critical but the index contains neither
that term, nor, e.g. "feminist/feminism", nor "race". Critical remarks and observations
intervene in the text, certainly, but radical doubts, of one kind or another, are not
permitted a structural place. Ch.2 perhaps does not intend to perpetuate a useless
quantitative-qualitative distinction, but identifying that distinction with simply conceived
philosophies of science carries that danger. The overall effect of the book is rather
normalising, turning a deeply disputable area (evaluation) into one of rather standard
debate. This is surely intentional, and appropriate for the textbook that this is intended to
be: and the gain from its simplifications is substantial. But a lively graduate might be
puzzled and a little frustrated by some of the exclusions.
Dianne Phillips
Manchester Metropolitan University
Copyright Sociological Research
Online, 