Assignment:
Evaluators overwhelmingly acknowledge the importance of working with stakeholders in evaluation and of focusing evaluations on optimizing intended use by intended users, which is the guiding principle of utilization - focused evaluation (Patton, 2008). In this chapter we focus on the processes of analyzing and engaging stakeholders in order to
(1) identify who the key stakeholders are and in particular who the intended users of evaluation information are;
(2) clarify the purposes and goals of the evaluation; and
(3) specify which stakeholders should be worked with, in what ways, and at which stages of the evaluation process, in order to increase the chances that the evaluation will serve its intended purpose for its intended users. We start from the premise that careful analysis should precede stakeholder engagement, although some engagement may be necessary in order to do good analysis. Seven particularly useful stakeholder identification and analysis techniques will be described.
The chapter has seven sections in addition to this brief introduction. The first discusses what is meant by the term stakeholder . Stakeholders ' interests andgoals may be compatible or may be in direct confidentially, but it is generally possible to find considerable common ground and agreement on what an evaluation' s purposes are and how best to proceed. The second section summarizes what the evaluation literature says about identifying and engaging with primary intended evaluation users. In the third section we present stakeholder identification and analysis techniques. The fourth section offers additional suggestions on how to use Analyzing and Engaging Stakeholders.
Stakeholder analysis to help determine more precisely the evaluation' s mission and goals. The fifth section presents a final stakeholder analysis technique, a matrix helpful for figuring out ways to engage stakeholders and reasons for engaging them during the various steps in an evaluation process. The sixth section discusses the need for flexibility, adaptability, and situational responsiveness in rapidly changing evaluation situations; our suggestions involve continuing analysis and probably changing engagement tactics. The chapter ' s final section offers a summary and several conclusions.
Following two questions to be answered , each question needs to 220 words.
1. What are common types of performance measures associated with programs? Provide an example of a performance measure that may be observed within a criminal justice program
2. What is program monitoring? How is monitoring used as a means of evaluating programs?