Research Handbook on Program Evaluation (Elgar Handbooks in Public Administration and Management)

In the Research Handbook on Program Evaluation, an impressive range of authors take stock of the history and current standing of key issues and debates in the evaluation field. Building upon current literature of program evaluation, the Research Handbook assesses the field's status in a post-pandemic and social justice-oriented world, examining today’s theoretical and practical concerns and proposing how they might be resolved by future innovations.

Featuring chapters from established thought leaders as well as emerging authors, the Research Handbook tracks theoretical issues in program evaluation and provides different approaches, trends and practices within this evolving field. Contributing authors discuss both obstacles and facilitators to evaluation alongside innovative tools from different disciplines to ensure evaluation-related work is more relevant, useful and effective. Chapters cover diverse contexts from the political realm to the nonprofit sector, and anticipate future challenges and directions for the field, for instance the need to promote equity, amplify intersectional identities and encourage democratic participation.

Transdisciplinary in its scope, this Research Handbook is a comprehensive reference point for program evaluation scholars. Its expansive nature means it will also appeal to practitioners, researchers and graduate students across a diverse range of disciplines, who wish to engage more deeply in theoretical debates in the field and learn about innovative approaches and methods.

Edited by Kathryn E. Newcomer, Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University and Steven W. Mumford, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of New Orleans, US