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AbstractUnderstanding the influence of multisite evaluation requires careful consideration of cultural context. The author illustrates dimensions of influence and culture with excerpts from four National Science Foundation evaluation case studies and summarizes what influence teaches us about culture and what culture teaches us about influence. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.

AbstractThis chapter recasts evaluation use in terms of influence and proposes an integrated theory that conceptualizes evaluation influence in three dimensions—source, intention, and time.

This study presents a data-based examination of program evaluation in community mental health centers from two perspectives. First, survey data from 111 centers are analyzed according to a hierarchical model of evaluation performance proposed in previous research. Second, these data are reanalyzed using multidimensional scaling to examine empirical relationships among types of evaluation activities. Although evaluation patterns are consistent with the hierarchical model, the empirical model suggests important new relationships that refine prior conceptualizations. Results are discussed in the context of research on evaluation and professional issues for evaluators.

AbstractContext grounds all aspects of indigenous evaluation. From an indigenous evaluation framework (IEF), programs are understood within their relationship to place, setting, and community, and evaluations are planned, undertaken, and validated in relation to cultural context. This chapter describes and explains fundamental elements of IEF epistemology and method and gives several examples of these elements from evaluations in American Indian communities. IEF underscores the importance of putting context ahead of method choice and suggests that context exerts an even greater impact than previously recognized. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.

AbstractThis chapter describes the theoretical framework underlying the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program curriculum and discusses how the program evolved over time. It describes the various components of the program, plus factors that influenced curriculum content and format. The chapter also discusses four levels of intended program outcomes: individual, organizational, community, and professional. As former coordinators and instructor of the program, we explain how the theoretical framework we adopted guided the development of culturally responsive evaluators committed to social justice and social change. The chapter concludes by examining the impact of program participation on the instructors, suggesting pathways of influence that lie outside the original conceptualization of the program, including how the synergy of evolving theory and curriculum enriched the program.

Two studies were conducted to determine the stability of self-assessment of evaluation performance and use over a six-week period. Two instruments, the Evaluation Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Evaluation Utilization Questionnaire (EUQ) were developed to assess internal evaluation of community mental health centers (CMHCs). One hundred one evaluators of CMHCs were surveyed in Study 1, and 175 directors and evaluators were surveyed in Study 2; response rates were 54% and 60%, respectively. Test-retest reliability coefftcients were calculated for total and subscale scores, and scale means were compared across time. Results show that the EPQ and EUQ provide reliable information about the level and scope of evaluation activity and the use of evaluation information within community mental health centers. The value of these tools for research, administration, evaluation, and practice is discussed