Evaluation Methods in Research

Judith Bennett is Lecturer in the Department of Education Studies at the University of York, UK.

• 1 What is Educational Evaluation?: Introduction - definitions and terminology; What is evaluation?; Why undertake evaluation?; Who is evaluation for?; Dimensions of evaluation; What is the relationship between evaluation and research?. 2 Models and approaches in educational evaluation: Approaches and models in educational evaluation; Two overviews; The classical research model; The illuminative evaluation model; Other models of evaluation; Ways of characterising research and evaluation questions; The politics of educational evaluation; Recent trends and developments in educational evaluation. 3 Innovation and models of change: Introduction; The Concerns-Based Adoption Model; John Harland and Kay Kinder - a typology of continuing professional development outcomes. 4 Research strategies and techniques for educational evaluation: Quantitative and qualitative data; Research strategies and techniques; Experiments as a research strategy in educational evaluation; Case studies as a research strategy in educational evaluation; Design experiments as a research strategy in educational evaluation; Research techniques in educational evaluation; The case study for a multimethod approach. 5 Planning and doing an evaluation: Key questions when planning and undertaking an evaluation; What is being evaluated?; What form will the evaluation take?; What practical issues need to be taken into account?; What questions will the evaluation address; What use will be made of the findings?; What types of data will be collected to help answer the evaluation questions?; What techniques will be used to gather data?; Who will gather data?; What ethical considerations need to be addressed?; How will the evaluation be reported?. 6 Evaluation in practice - some examples of studies: Example 1 - A new science course for nonscience specialists; Example 2 - An evaluation of a programme aimed at accelerating cognitive development; Example 3 - A thinking skills programme for primary school students.