Standards-Based and Responsive Evaluation

Professor Stake received his B.A. in Mathematics with a minor in naval science and Spanish from the University of Nebraska in 1950. He graduated with an M.A. in educational psychology in 1954 from this university. In 1958, he received his Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University. From 1955 to 1958, he was a Psychometric Fellow at the Educational Testing Service. Then, an Associate Professor and Faculty Research Coordinator of the College of Education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1963, he arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he assisted Thomas Hastings, Lee Cronbach, and Jack Easley in the creation of the new evaluation center, CIRCE, and in developing a program of research on program evaluation. He also became the Associate Director of the Statewide High School Testing Program. In 1975, he became director of CIRCE. He has been active in the program evaluation profession and has promoted an approach to evaluation methods called "responsive evaluation." He took up a qualitative perspective, particularly case study methods, in order to represent the personal experience and complexity of evaluation study. He received the Lazerfeld Award from the American Evaluation Association and an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala.

We can be grateful that Dr. Stake decided to cap his distinguished career by sharing his ideas in writing. This is a book that evaluators will want to have in their personal library. It tells us a lot about our field, highlights contrasting ways of evaluating without pitting one against the other, and manages to remind us why many of us chose this line of work in the first place.

• First Words1. Criterial and Interpretive EvaluationThe Ubiquitous Search For QualityStandardsCriterial and Episodic ThinkingRoles and Styles of EvaluationFormative and Summative EvaluationThe EvaluandThe Evaluator2. Roles, Models, and DispositionsModelsDispositionsRoles3. Standards-Based EvaluationStandards-BasedBiasFactorsCriteria and Standards for ComparisonsNeeds AssessmentGoalsCostsRepresentations of PerformanceWhat Goes Wrong4. Responsive EvaluationIssues as Conceptual StructureObservations and JudgmentsPerceptionsCombining Responsive and Standards-Based EvaluationExperience as KnowledgeOrganizing and ReportingProceduresWhat Goes Wrong5. Data GatheringChoosing Data SourcesInstrumentationRecipient ResponsesStaff and Management ResponsesStakeholder and Public ResponsesData Coding and Records ProcessingSurveysObservation SchedulesInterviewingHistories and Artifacts6. Analysis, Synthesis, and Meta-evaluationAnalysisSynthesisExperiential and Probative InferencesMeta-evaluationAn Ethic of Continuous Self-Challenge7.Clients, Stakeholders, Beneficiaries and ReadersParticipatory EvaluationStakeholdingUtilizationDemocratic EvaluationNegotiation of a ContractWriting ReportsStyles of ReportingRepresentations of the EvaluandNames and LabelsCutting EdgeOffering Recommendations8. Issues Needing InterpretationComplexityProgram StandardizationProgram FairnessStaff Development9. Evidence-Based EvaluationIs Evaluation Science?Petite and Grand GeneralizationsPolicy EvaluationBiasSkepticism as a Commitment10. Doing It RightQuality Work Is Ethical WorkPersonal StandardsProfessional StandardsHuman Subjects ProtectionConfidentiality and AnonymityThe Business of EvaluationPersonnel EvaluationProduct EvaluationPolitical and Cultural ContextsLast WordsReferencesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author