What does evaluation have to do with the movie The Big Lebowski?  Well, the answer is "a lot" if you're up on this cult classic and number one favourite movie of James, aka "The Dude".Before you listen to this podcast we strongly suggest you view it first so you don't miss any of our keen insights.Cheers,Kylie & JamesP.S.  Here is the photo of Kylie recording in the Starbucks bathroom while on family vacation.

The Big Lebowski and Evaluation

James Coyle and Kylie Hutchinson chat about topics, trends, and tips in the field of program evaluation. Relevant, practical, and always entertaining.

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This week we're thrilled to have Michael Scriven, frequently called "the father of evaluation", as our special guest.  Michael chats about his chapter on "The Foundation and Future of Evaluation" in the new book, The Future of Evaluation in Society: A Tribute to Michael Scriven.  Check it out here or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes for free.For more details on Michael's work you can visit his website here.Feel free to leave us your comments below, and don't forget to rate us on iTunes to give us some feedback!Enjoy,James & Kylie

The Future of Evaluation: A Chat With Michael Scriven

In this episode we explore some of the differences between typical Western-style evaluation and the monitoring & evaluation (M&E) that occurs in an international development context.  To help us, we invited two guests with experience working in both areas, Ian C. Davies and Tom Pellens.Here are some of the links we mention:John Mayne and Contribution AnalysisJennifer Greene and Mixed MethodsEuropean Evaluation Society 2014 conference Below is the cartoon mentioned by Terry Smutylo and Daniel Morales-Gomez. Until next time,Kylie & James

Western vs. Development Evaluation: Commonalties and Differences

In this episode we present a mixed bag where Kylie debriefs her most excellent week at the African Evaluation Association 2014 conference and James takes us on his search for a "non-boring" evaluation journal article. Fun on the Conference Shuttle BusShout outs to Serge-Eric Yakeu Djiam, Jennifer Bisgard, and all the hard-working volunteers at AfrEA2014 and the Cameroon Development Evaluation Association for a great conference.Below are some of the articles that James found in his search: American Evaluation Association Task Force Statement on ‘What is Evaluation?’ (2014)Fournier, D. M. (1995). Establishing evaluative conclusions: A distinction between general and working logic. New Directions for Evaluation, 65, 15-32.Patton, M. Q. (2000). Overview: Language matters. New Directions for Evaluation, 86, 5-16.Gamble, J. (2006). A Developmental Evaluation Primer. Montreal, PQ: McConnell Foundation.Dozois, E., Langlois, M., Blanchet-Cohen, N. (2010). DE201: A practitioner's guide to Developmental Evaluation. Montreal, PQ: McConnell Foundation.Scheirer, M. A. & Schwandt, T. (2012).  Planning evaluation through the program life cycle. American Journal of Evaluation, online, 1-32.Evergreen, S. & Metzner, C. (2013). Design principles for data visualization in evaluation.  New Directions in Evaluation, 140, 5-20. Until next time,Kylie & James

Fun in Cameroon at AfrEA 2014 and The Quest for Exciting Journal Articles

Happy New Year Everyone!...okay...we're a little late with that...but we have a short new podcast!Many of us have personal New Year's resolutions, but what about professional ones?  In this episode James and Kylie share their evaluation resolutions for 2014.Got some of your own?  We'd love to hear them so leave us a comment below.CheersKylie & James P.S.  Kylie just thought of another resolution she forgot to mention - use a systems lens!

The Big Lebowski and Evaluation

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