Engagement in Evaluation

This image is a brief excerpt of the book chapter.

Dr. Esther Nolton of Everstead Strategies co-authored this book chapter with Dr. Laura Forsythe. It was published as part of the Research Handbook on Program Evaluation (2024, Edited by Drs. Kathy Newcomer and Steve Mumford).

For any program, there are various individuals and organizations who have an interest in its existence, resources, services, implementation, outcomes, and/or impact. Engaging diverse individuals in evaluation design, conduct, and dissemination is critical to incorporating context and perspectives that allow evaluation findings to be more useful, meaningful, and trustworthy. In turn, evaluation can both better serve the needs and interests of the people who are most affected and also lead to program and policy improvement. Engagement is not unique to evaluation research. In fact, the body of literature on engagement science and practice is rich in adjacent fields. We draw on our experiences as professional evaluators who have incorporated engagement in our evaluative activities, and as researchers who have studied the science and practice of engagement in other contexts, to better equip evaluation practitioners to incorporate robust engagement in their evaluation work.

This book chapter can be fully accessed for free here. The chapter was provided as an open access resource by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.