Credibility, Validity, and Assumptions in Program Evaluation Methodology

Apollo M. Nkwake is a Global Lead-Senior Technical Advisor for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) at Action Against Hunger USA. He previously worked as Associate Research Professor for MEL at The George Washington and Tulane Universities. He was a Senior Research Associate at Education Development Center. He also served as Senior MEL Manager at World Agroforestry Center. Apollo holds a PhD in Social Development from University of Cape Town and holds Canadian Evaluation Society’s Credentialed Evaluator designation. Dr. Nkwake is a recipient of American Evaluation Association’s 2017 Marcia Guttentag Promising New Evaluator Award. He has authored six books, several journal papers/book chapters and guest edited several special journal volumes. He is also the author of: Working with Assumptions in International Development Program Evaluation. He is Associate Editor for American Journal of Evaluation, a member of the International Evaluation Academy Council and Evaluation Reviewer forUNDP’s Independent Evaluation Group.

• Chapter 1. Constituents of Evaluation Practice.- Chapter 2. Credible Methodology.- Chapter 3. Validity in Framing an Evaluation’s Purpose and Questions.- Chapter 4. Validity in Evaluation Designs and Methods.- Chapter 5. Validity in Measures and data collection.- Chapter 6. Validity in Analysis, Interpretation, and Conclusions.- Chapter 7. Validity in Evaluation Utilization.- Chapter 8. Validity in performance measurement.- Chapter 9. Explication of Methodological Assumptions: A Metaevaluation.- Chapter 10. Working with assumptions in humanitarian assistance evaluation.- Chapter 11. Conclusion.