Evaluation Strategies for Communicating and Reporting
Enhancing Learning in Organizations

Second Edition

Edited by:

Rosalie T. Torres - Torres Consulting Group
Hallie Preskill - FSG Social Impact Advisors
Mary E. Piontek - University of Michigan, USA

Other Titles in:
Evaluation (General) | Organization Studies (General) | Research Methods & Evaluation (General)

February 2005 | 384 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

`[This is] a book that addresses some of the overlooked, taken-for-granted aspects involved with the planning, conducting, and reporting of good evaluation. This book helps evaluators improve the utilization of evaluation results by using an ongoing, integrative collaborative learning approach with project stakeholders. Through the use of collaborative techniques and emphasis on various communicating and reporting formats, evaluators gain knowledge and skills that will assist them in helping organizations learn, grow and improve' -

Steven R Aragon, Human Resource Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Evaluation Strategies for Communicating and Reporting has been thoroughly revised and updated creating 75% new material and 34 new case examples. The Second Edition provides worksheets and instructions for creating a detailed communicating and reporting plan based on audience needs and characteristics. The authors cover advances in technology including Web site communications, Web and videoconferencing and Internet chat rooms. There are several additional topics for consideration, including communicating and reporting for diverse audiences and for multi-site evaluations.

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Individual Learning

Group Learning

Organizational Learning

Learning Approach to Evaluation

Organization of the Book

2. Understanding and Planning for Effective Communicating and Reporting

Purposes of Communicating and Reporting

Timing

Audiences

Individual, Group, and Organizational Learning

Overview of Communicating and Reporting Formats and Options

Developing a Communicating and Reporting Plan

Summary

3. Communicating and Reporting Strategies to Facilitate Learning

Making Contents Easy to Assimilate

Short Written Communications

Interim Reports

Final Reports

Executive Summaries

Newsletters, Bulletins, Briefs, and Brochures

News Media Communications

Web Site Communications

Summary

4. Communicating and Reporting Strategies to Maximize Learning

Potentially Interactive Formats

Fully Interactive Formats

Summary

5. Creative Forms of Communicating and Reporting

Photography

Cartoons

Poetry

Drama

Summary

6. Additional Considerations for Communicating and Reporting

Communicating and Reporting for Diverse Audiences

Communicating Negative Findings

Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation

Developing Recommendations

Multisite Evaluations

Summary

7. Issues and Opportunities for Evaluation Practice

Breadth and Depth of Skills Evaluators Need

Evaluator Roles

Time for Collaboration

Misinterpretation/Misuse of Findings

Organizational Readiness for Evaluation

Parting Thought

Appendix A: Key Terms

Appendix B: Summary of Chapter 3 Implementation Tips, Guidelines, and Cautions

Appendix C: Summary of Chapter 4 Implementation Tips, Guidelines, and Cautions

Appendix D: Summary of Chapter 5 Implementation Tips and Cautions

Appendix E: Summary of Chapter 6 Implementation Tips and Cautions

References

Index

About the Authors

[This is] a book that addresses some of the overlooked, taken-for-granted aspects involved with the planning, conducting, and reporting of good evaluation. This book helps evaluators improve the utilization of evaluation results by using an ongoing, integrative collaborative learning approach with project stakeholders. Through the use of collaborative techniques and emphasis on various communicating and reporting formats, evaluators gain knowledge and skills that will assist them in helping organizations learn, grow, and improve.

Steven R. Aragon

Human Resource Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This is among the most thorough and practically applicable texts written about communicating and reporting evaluation findings. The additions of the new sections in this edition reflect the changing nature of work-related communication in general, of which evaluators need to be aware and take advantage. This is a significant contribution to our practice.

Jennifer Martineau

Center for Creative Leadership

"Rosalie Torres, Hallie Preskill and Mary Piontek have furnished a text that is not only thorough, but also easily accessible to both the beginner and the experienced practitioner alike. Not only are they masters at writing with jargon-free clarity, what they have to say demonstrates their apparent underlying methodological grasp of the field. They have succeeded in practicing what they preach."

John Scougall

Western Australia Institute for Sustainable Technology and Policy at Murdoch University