A textbook must provide, first and foremost, information to assist the reader in better understanding the topic. Second, it ought to provide the information in a way that can be easily accessed and digested, and it needs to be credible. Textbooks
that have gone through multiple editions continue to improve as a result of reviewers’ comments and readers’ feedback, and this one is no exception. Looking back over the efforts associated with this Fifth Edition, the old wedding custom of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” comes to
mind. We have built upon the solid foundation of previous editions, but then added “something new.” It almost goes without saying that we have “borrowed” from others in that we both cite and quote examples of program evaluation studies
from the literature. “Something blue” . . . well, we’re not sure about that. Those who have used the Fourth Edition might be interested in knowing what has changed in this new edition. Based on reviewers’ comments we have:
• Created a new chapter to explain sampling.
• Incorporated new material on designing questionnaires.
• Overhauled the chapter on qualitative evaluation. It is now “Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Evaluation.”
• Reworked the “Formative and Process Evaluation” chapter with expanded coverage on developing logic models.
• Added new studies and references; new Internet sources of information.
• Included new examples of measurement instruments (scales) with a macro
focus.
• Inserted new checklists and guides (such as ways to minimize and monitor for potential fidelity problems—Chapter 13).
• Revised the chapter “Writing Evaluation Proposals, Reports, and Journal Articles” to give it less of an academic slant. There’s new material on writing
executive summaries and considerations in planning and writing evaluation
reports for agencies.
• Deleted the chapter on Goal Attainment Scalin