Why Aren’t Evaluations Working and What to Do About It
A Framework for Negotiating Meaningful Evaluation in Nonprofits
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12471304 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kellie Liket (Erasmus University Rotterdam, corresponding author), Kellie C Liket (Erasmus Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands), Marta Rey-Garcia (Universidade da Coruña), Marta Rey‐garcía (0000-0002-9453-8551, Universidade da Coruña), Karen Maas (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Karen E H Maas (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 171-188 |
| Publication date | 2014-03-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Evaluation (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1098-2140 • E-ISSN: 1557-0878 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1098214013517736 |
| OpenAlex | W2107614605 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
| References cited | 50 |
Nonprofit organizations are under great pressure to use evaluations to show that their programs “work” and that they are “effective.” However, empirical evidence indicates that nonprofits struggle to perform useful evaluations, especially when conducted under accountability pressures. An increasing body of evidence highlights the crucial role of a participatory negotiation process between nonprofits and stakeholders on the purpose and design of evaluations in achieving evaluation utility. However, conceptual confusion about the evaluation objectives, unclear evaluation purposes, a lack of appropriate evaluation questions, and normative ideas about superior evaluation designs and methods, complicate the process. In response, we provide practical conceptualizations of the central objectives of evaluations and propose a framework that can guide negotiation processes. It presents the relationships between the evaluation purpose, evaluation question, and the different levels of effects that should be measured. The selection of the evaluation method is contingent on the choices made within this framework
Accountability · Business · Conceptual framework · Confusion · Economics · Evaluation methods · Knowledge management · Management science · Negotiation · Normative · Participatory evaluation · Political science · Process (computing · Process management · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
Capturing Collaborative Challenges
Developing a vulnerability-based conceptual model for managing risk in non-profit projects
Enhancing the effects of university education for sustainable development on social sustainability
Building Legitimacy and Learning Lessons
Diversifying the Pipeline of Social Work Students Prepared to Implement Performance Measurement
Uncovering the impact of food sharing platform business models
Siames
Identifying the merits of bottom-up urban development
The Centrality of Use
Evaluation Capacity Building Through Community-University Partnership
Evaluation Policy in a Nonprofit Foundation
Indicators of buy-in to gauge evaluation success
The Capacity Development Evaluation Framework
Comprehensive Ingo Accountability to Strengthen Perceived Program Effectiveness
Data driven social partnerships
Constructing Accountability
Supporting health promotion practitioners to undertake evaluation for program development
Examining Youth Sector Stakeholders’ Experiences in an Online Program Evaluation Certificate
Mapping Evaluation Use
A Systematic Review of Meta-Evaluations
Policy Brief
Instrumental Philanthropy, Nonprofit Theory, and Information Costs
Training and capacity development
A Co-Learning Model for Community-Engaged Program Evaluation
Negotiating effectiveness in transnational advocacy evaluation
Social entrepreneurship and social innovation
Complicity Revisited
Data and Decision Making
Analysis of Evaluation Policies in the Philanthropic Sector
Life beyond Refuge
Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment
Implementation and Impact of Results-Based Accountability Learning
Measuring Corporate Social Performance
Current Empirical Research on Evaluation Utilization
Strategic Performance Measurement and Management in Nonprofit Organizations
Handbook Of Development Economics
The Nonprofit sector
The Nonprofit Sector
Fourth-Generation Evaluation
The Impact of Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa
A Contribution to Current Debates in Impact Evaluation
What Doesn’t Work? Three Failures, Many Answers
Experimentalism and development evaluation
The mixing of methods
Evaluation, Knowledge Management, Best Practices, and High Quality Lessons Learned
Evaluation Practice Among Community-Based Organizations
Developmental Impact Evaluation for Facilitating Learning in Innovation Networks
Negotiating Measurement
Evaluability Assessment From 1986 to 2006
An Assessment of Evaluation Designs
Evaluation, knowledge management, best practices, and high quality lessons learned
Evaluation Capacity and Nonprofit Organizations
Mainstreaming Microfinance
Why Measure Performance? Different Purposes Require Different Measures
Toward a Platinum Standard for Evidence‐Based Assessment by 2020
Drowning in Data
| Unique citing works | 32 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,67 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2024 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 32 |