Promoting Value in the Public Interest: Informing Policies for Judging Value in Evaluation

Do you make evidence-based decisions when designing and conducting evaluations, and use methods validated by experience? Because of the growing importance of evidence-based decision-making for improving programs and policies, this issue examines methods selection: * Which is better? * How can one be improved? * Are the results of the project worth the resources expended? and how that leads to confidence in value-based conclusions. It presents a constructive dialogue on valuing in evaluation, with the goal of developing a pragmatic approach for guiding method choice and for promoting methodology policies that support multiple approaches to valuation being employed in context-appropriate ways so as to serve the public interest. This is the 133rd volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.