Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation

David M. Fetterman, PhD, is president and CEO of Fetterman and Associates, an international evaluation consulting firm, and the founder of empowerment evaluation. Dr. Fetterman has worked in more than 17 countries--in South African townships and Native American reservations, as well as in Silicon Valley tech firms, including Google and Hewlett-Packard--and has 25 years of experience at Stanford University, serving as a School of Education faculty member, the School of Medicine director of evaluation, and a senior member of the University administration. He currently serves as a faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Fetterman is past president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and the Council on Anthropology and Education of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). He is a recipient of honors including the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award and the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award from the AEA; the President’s Award from the AAA; the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Research on Evaluation Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association; and the Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Foundation. He is the author or editor of numerous books.Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, PhD, is Director of the Graduate Certificate in Evaluation and Professor in the Department of Educational and Psychological Studies at the University of South Florida. She is a former director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Measurement. Nationally and internationally recognized for her contributions to collaborative evaluation, Dr. Rodríguez-Campos is co-chair of the Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), serves on the board of directors of the Evaluation Capacity Development Group, and is a recipient of the Marcia Guttentag Award from the AEA, among other honors. She has facilitated many training sessions and presented her work in more than 30 countries.Ann P. Zukoski, DrPH, MPH, has conducted research and evaluation in community-based and public health settings since the 1990s, with a particular interest in using participatory evaluation to assess systems and policy change. She leads the Evaluation and Research Team at the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives of the Minnesota Department of Health. Previously, Dr. Zukowski was a senior research associate at Rainbow Research in Minneapolis, a faculty member in the Department of Public Health at Oregon State University, a senior evaluation associate for the California Public Health Institute, and a senior research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. She has conducted research and evaluations funded by a variety of national, state, and county government agencies, as well as private foundations. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Berberati, Central African Republic.

“This valuable book both shows and tells on the hot topic of collaborative, participatory, and empowerment approaches. Each 'essentials' chapter gains impact from two chapters illustrating what the principles look like in actual evaluation practice. Beautifully explanatory, memorably demonstrated! The authors emphasize understanding in order to select the most appropriate stakeholder approaches for the situation at hand. Far from claiming the exclusive benefits of any single approach, the book is infused with the spirit of working together. The chapter on commonalities powerfully lays out the features of stakeholder involvement at macro-, mid-, and microlevels of analysis, creating a strong theory-to-practice bridge for newcomers as well as experts. I wish I could gift-wrap this book and send it express to evaluation practitioners in fields from agronomy to zoology."--Lois-ellin Datta, PhD, President, Datta Analysis, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii"An invaluable contribution. This book adds very helpful perspectives and insights to an enticing and alluring--but largely still under-defined--set of evaluation methodologies. It provides focus, helpful guidance, and more nuanced, differentiated conceptualizations of collaborative, participatory, and empowerment evaluation. The conceptual framing of the methodologies and the inclusion of both domestic and international cases make the book particularly helpful for training and preparing novice evaluators. I really appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the writing, as well as the specificity of the processes and procedures described. This will be a useful core text for my graduate courses in monitoring and evaluation for development practitioners, and I expect my students to keep it as a reference guide when they enter the professional field."--David Bell, EdD, Department of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark University"This book uses in-depth case studies by experts in the field to explore and highlight principles and practices of the three approaches. I found the organization very useful. I particularly appreciate the inclusion of concrete suggestions and timelines, the information on how the approaches might be applied in different contexts, and the attention to ethical concerns regarding working with marginalized or vulnerable populations. Specifying ways that the approaches can be used in one-time or multiyear studies expands the utility of the volume. Students often express the desire for practical information about how to conduct evaluations--this practical volume, nested within theoretical and methodological frameworks, addresses this need."--Isabel Bradburn, PhD, Department of Human Development, Virginia Tech“The authors provide a robust overview of the three models of stakeholder involvement. Offering a thoughtful and informed perspective, this book is a welcome addition to an evolving field. It will advance evaluator expertise as well as stakeholder participation, evaluation capacity, and use of findings. Side-by-side case studies demonstrate the flexibility of the three models under different evaluation scenarios while guiding evaluators on the practical aspects of incorporating stakeholder involvement in their designs."--Annette L. Gardner, PhD, MPH, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco -

• 1. An Introduction to Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation Approaches, David Fetterman, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, Abraham Wandersman, Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan, & Ann Zukoski2. Essentials of Collaborative Evaluation, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos3. A Collaborative Evaluation of an Aquarium (Marine Life Program), Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, Rigoberto Rincones-Gómez, & Rosalyn Roker4. A Collaborative Evaluation of a Multisite, Multipurpose, Multiyear Early Childhood Quality Care Initiative, Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan5. Essentials of Participatory Evaluation, Ann Zukoski & Cate Bosserman6. A Participatory Evaluation of a Community Health Improvement Initiative, Ann Zukoski, Cate Bosserman, & Courtney Baechler7. A Participatory Evaluation of a Community Justice Program for Sex Offenders, Jill Anne Chouinard8. Essentials of Empowerment Evaluation, David Fetterman & Abraham Wandersman9. An Empowerment Evaluation of a Comprehensive Sex Education Initiative, Margret Dugan10. A Google-Enhanced Empowerment Evaluation Approach in a Graduate School Program, David Fetterman & Jason Ravitz11. Similarities across the Three Approaches:Principles and Practices in Common, David Fetterman, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, Abraham Wandersman, Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan, & Ann Zukoski12. Conclusion: Highlighting the Present and Looking to the Future, David Fetterman, Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, Abraham Wandersman, Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan, & Ann Zukoski