This anthology poses challenges central to Elizabeth Minnich's book The Evil of Banality: On The Life and Death Importance of Thinking to outstanding thought leaders from a wide range of fields. In a time when even small acts can have consequences that spread wider and much faster than ever, when public discourse is more banal and superficial even as it is inflated by bluster and fractured by group-think, knee-jerk partisanship, and hyper-specialization, it is a book whose outstanding authors reflect with urgency on how we can and why we must think what we are doing as professionals, citizens, public actors, and, crucially also, as educators. The book brings together a group of distinguished thought leaders in widely varied fields: philosophy, evaluation, community organizing, sociology, systems thinking, business management, sociology, leadership, humanities, public policy, ethics, and religion. Each of these authors has struggled with how to practice as well as how to teach people not only to be "a success" as measured by title, office, and pay, but how and why it is crucial that each and all of us learn to think well about what we are doing, its effects, how and why we are doing it. They discuss issues such as lying; the ethics of 'fixing' genes that will then be passed on; knowing when, even whether, to intervene in genocide; unintended effects of economic development efforts; the effects of rewards only for short-term studies; making public policy with the public. Philosophically framed and interdisciplinary in approach, the book is written to be accessible to a general educated audience. It is designed to be thought-provoking, illuminating, and useful.

This anthology poses challenges central to Elizabeth Minnich's book The Evil of Banality: On The Life and Death Importance of Thinking to outstanding thought leaders from a wide range of fields. In a time when even small acts can have consequences that spread wider and much faster than ever, when public discourse is more banal and superficial even as it is inflated by bluster and fractured by group-think, knee-jerk partisanship, and hyper-specialization, it is a book whose outstanding authors reflect with urgency on how we can and why we must think what we are doing as professionals, citizens, public actors, and, crucially also, as educators. The book brings together a group of distinguished thought leaders in widely varied fields: philosophy, evaluation, community organizing, sociology, systems thinking, business management, sociology, leadership, humanities, public policy, ethics, and religion. Each of these authors has struggled with how to practice as well as how to teach people not only to be "a success" as measured by title, office, and pay, but how and why it is crucial that each and all of us learn to think well about what we are doing, its effects, how and why we are doing it. They discuss issues such as lying; the ethics of 'fixing' genes that will then be passed on; knowing when, even whether, to intervene in genocide; unintended effects of economic development efforts; the effects of rewards only for short-term studies; making public policy with the public. Philosophically framed and interdisciplinary in approach, the book is written to be accessible to a general educated audience. It is designed to be thought-provoking, illuminating, and useful.

The Fifth Edition of the bestselling Utilization-Focused Evaluation provides expert, detailed advice on conducting evaluations that promote effective use of the findings. Chock full of useful pedagogy, this book presents Michael Quinn Patton's distinctive opinions based on more than forty years of experience, and also the expertise of new co-author Charmagne E. Campbell-Patton. The authors begin by describing the essence of utilization-focused evaluation, and then outline 10 operating principles. They conclude with chapters focused on how evaluation can be used to promote a more thoughtful, equitable, and sustainable world. Richly illustrated with examples, figures, and cartoons, this engaging text shows readers how to design and conduct evaluations that provide useful findings, and which contribute to a more equitable society. A companion website is available to accompany this book.

Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority Michael Quinn Patton shows how to conduct evaluations within a DE framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He illustrates how DE can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development, adapting effective principles of practice to local contexts, generating innovations and taking them to scale, and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations. Students and practicing evaluators will appreciate the book's extensive case examples and stories, cartoons, clear writing style, "closer look" sidebars, and summary tables. Provided is essential guidance for making evaluations useful, practical, and credible in support of social change. See also Developmental Evaluation Exemplars, edited by Michael Quinn Patton, Kate McKegg, and Nan Wehipeihana, which presents 12 in-depth case studies.

When Brandon was born, Michael Quinn Patton began pondering how best to celebrate the day his son would become a man. As a sociologist, Patton was intrigued with the rich history of coming-of-age rites of passage for young men, dating to ancient tribal cultures. But as a humanist he was wary of contemporary men's movements and their stressing of new age spiritualities.

When Brandon turned 18, Patton took his son to a place of mystery and wonder-the Grand Canyon-where they could explore together what it means to come of age. With an anthropologist as their guide, Patton and his son hiked the magnificent and dangerous canyon, exploring the oldest exposed rock on Earth while delving deeply into ancient coming-of-age myths like the Grail Legend. They found themselves faced with choices between fundamentally opposed paradigms: tribe-based warrior initiation and an emergent humanist celebration of father-son bonding and rational deliberation.

Written in the tradition of The Man Who Walked Through Time, and Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, this is the story of the Pattons' remarkable journey of discovery as they learn about history and geology, false spirituality, facing danger together, and what it means to be a man in today's world.

Patton cuts across many branches of social thought and belief: humanism, skepticism, father-son relations and men's movements, liberal religions, mythology, psychology, and social science. Life-affirming lessons of mutuality and acceptance are captured in Grand Canyon Celebration, a timeless memoir for all families as they journey through the canyons of their own lives.

*Influential, award-winning evaluator Patton presents a new model, unique in treating principles (i.e., whether they are being followed and getting results) as the focus of evaluation. *The first publication to present resources including the step-by-step GUIDE framework, practical tools, case studies, and reflections from P-FE practitioners. *Witty, insightful writing from the author of bestselling works including Developmental Evaluation. *Patton is one of the most in-demand evaluation speakers worldwide. *P-FE will be of particular interest in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, and South Africa.

*Influential, award-winning evaluator Patton presents a new model, unique in treating principles (i.e., whether they are being followed and getting results) as the focus of evaluation. *The first publication to present resources including the step-by-step GUIDE framework, practical tools, case studies, and reflections from P-FE practitioners. *Witty, insightful writing from the author of bestselling works including Developmental Evaluation. *Patton is one of the most in-demand evaluation speakers worldwide. *P-FE will be of particular interest in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, and South Africa.

As a transdisciplinary profession, evaluation has much to offer to global change interventions that work toward a sustainable future across national boundaries, sectors, and issues. This book introduces Blue Marble evaluation, which provides a framework for developing, adapting, and evaluating major systems change initiatives involving complex networks of stakeholders. Michael Quinn Patton demonstrates how the four overarching principles and 12 operating principles of this innovative approach allow evaluators, planners, and implementers to home in on sustainability and equity issues in an intervention. Compelling case examples, bulleted review lists, charts, and 80 original exhibits and graphics connect the global and local, the human and ecological. Rooted in utilization-focused, developmental, and principles-focused evaluation, Blue Marble evaluation is designed to tackle problems outside the reach of traditional evaluation practice.

Drawing on more than 40 years of experience conducting applied social science research and program evaluation, author Michael Quinn Patton has crafted the most comprehensive and systematic book on qualitative research and evaluation methods, inquiry frameworks, and analysis options available today. Now offering more balance between applied research and evaluation, this Fourth Edition illuminates all aspects of qualitative inquiry through new examples, stories, and cartoons; more than a hundred new summarizing and synthesizing exhibits; and a wide range of new highlight sections/sidebars that elaborate on important and emergent issues. For the first time, full case studies are included to illustrate extended research and evaluation examples. In addition, each chapter features an extended "rumination," written in a voice and style more emphatic and engaging than traditional textbook style, about a core issue of persistent debate and controversy.

Responding to evaluator and instructor demand, this book presents a diverse set of high-quality developmental evaluation (DE) case studies. Twelve insightful exemplars illustrate how DE is used to evaluate innovative initiatives in complex, dynamic environments, including a range of fields and international settings. Written by leading practitioners, chapters offer a rare window into what it takes to do DE, what roles must be fulfilled, and what results can be expected. Each case opens with an incisive introduction by the editors. The book also addresses frequently asked questions about DE, synthesizes key themes and lessons learned from the exemplars, and identifies eight essential principles of DE. See also Michael Quinn Patton's Developmental Evaluation, the authoritative presentation of DE.

In the battle against family sexual abuse, most studies and research findings have examined the problem on a national level--but what about the studies that have been done at the local level? With contributions from practitioners and researchers, Family Sexual Abuse deftly explores the results of eleven research projects covering such issues as sibling incest, the background of sexual offenders, effects of sexual abuse on children, effects of offender removal from the home, effects of reunification, and the prognosis for incest offenders after treatment. While large, national studies provide information on major trends in family sexual abuse, this five-year look at Minnesota studies reflects the real impact of interventions in the context of local practitioners dealing with local problems. As such, these studies clearly demonstrate the significant contributions small studies and specific program evaluations can make to both research and practice in the field of family sexual abuse. Family Sexual Abuse is a resource no practitioner or researcher in this field can afford to be without. "This book, in contrast to most studies and research findings in the field of family sexual abuse, which examine the problem on a national level, presents the findings of 11 frontline enquiries conducted by practitioners and researchers under the auspices of the Family Sexual Abuse Project (FSAP) in Minnesota in the period 1985-1990. It is precisely this focus on the application of current knowledge (and the lack of it) interacting with changing social policy at a local level which provides this book with its distinctive contribution." --Journal of the British Association for Counselling "In comparison to most edited volumes, these articles are consistently well-written. . . . This volume is worthwhile because these articles do not pretend to tell a simple story. In his conclusion, Michael Patton argues that the composite findings weave a 'mosaic of enormous complexity,' and in doing so, these articles raise many questions and encourage much thought." --Journal of Marriage and the Family "This is an extremely useful book for practitioners in the field of child sexual abuse, with the bonus of practical advice for both researchers and practitioners on how to study the problems of child sexual abuse." --Child Abuse Review "The spirit in which this book is written is the essence of a positive approach to research dissemination. It aims to report on and share with a wide audience the findings of eleven small-scale research studies undertaken in the state of Minnesota between 1985 and 1990. The book's appeal lies in its focus on wider application of knowledge to local policy and practice in the field of child protection. A major feature of the work is the spirit of collaboration and openness to peer review in which the work was undertaken. . . .The book's rather dry title undervalues its rich and varied content. . . .Each chapter stands on its own or the book can be read as a whole. Its strength is in the variety of material, methodologies, and issues presented. . . .Of particular interest to the reader is the study which investigates the extent of abuse among American Indian families. The work was set up within an ethically sensitive framework and it provides an excellent model for the development of an anti-racist research methodology. Other chapters focus on the provocative issues of abuse indicators, intergenerational and sibling abuse. The accounts provide a clear, unambiguous account of work undertaken and they raise important, if uncomfortable, questions about each of the areas under discussion. . . .There are five main strengths of this book. First, it challenges older and newer myths about the extent and nature of sexual abuse; second, it makes a considered analysis of the effects of abuse from a range of perspectives; third, it adds to our understanding of the reasons why men and women sexually abuse their children; fourth, it evaluates a range of treatment models, and finally, it clearly states issues for policy, practice, and further research. The book also raises important issues in relation to methodology, namely the need to triangulate methods and to have specialist training for researchers involved in this area of research so that the voice of survivors can be heard and attended to. The book will be of interest to a wide audience. It merits extensive readership and debate. It should be able to achieve both, not least because of its accessible and thought-provoking style." --British Journal of Social Work "This book breaks new ground by investigating the impact of sexual abuse interventions at the local level. This five-year look at 11 independent research projects in Minnesota encompasses the spectrum of issues, including the identification and effects of sexual abuse, sibling incest, the effects of family reunification, and the treatment of sexual offenders and abuse survivors. A significant contribution to the field . . ." --Child Welfare

"An unusual and very useful book. . . . Provides a first-rate practical primer in evaluation. . . . Sorts out . . . issues commonsensically and very persuasively, and proceeds to argue for a collaborative evaluation practice. . . . A toolkit of principles and techniques that evaluators who are prepared wholeheartedly to work practically can make their own."

Michael Quinn Patton's Facilitating Evaluation: Principles in Practice is the first book of its kind to explain in depth and detail how to facilitate evaluation processes with stakeholders. Using the author's own stories of his experiences as an evaluation facilitator, the book illustrates the five evaluation facilitation principles that are the organizing framework for addressing how to work with stakeholders to generate evaluation questions, make decisions among methods, interpret findings, and participate in all aspects of evaluation. Ultimately, this book will help readers perform facilitation to enhance the relevance, credibility, meaningfulness, and utility of evaluations. "A must-read for anyone considering a high-impact evaluation!" -Margaret Lombe, Boston College

As a transdisciplinary profession, evaluation has much to offer to global change interventions that work toward a sustainable future across national boundaries, sectors, and issues. This book introduces Blue Marble evaluation, which provides a framework for developing, adapting, and evaluating major systems change initiatives involving complex networks of stakeholders. Michael Quinn Patton demonstrates how the four overarching principles and 12 operating principles of this innovative approach allow evaluators, planners, and implementers to home in on sustainability and equity issues in an intervention. Compelling case examples, bulleted review lists, charts, and 80 original exhibits and graphics connect the global and local, the human and ecological. Rooted in utilization-focused, developmental, and principles-focused evaluation, Blue Marble evaluation is designed to tackle problems outside the reach of traditional evaluation practice.

Responding to evaluator and instructor demand, this book presents a diverse set of high-quality developmental evaluation (DE) case studies. Twelve insightful exemplars illustrate how DE is used to evaluate innovative initiatives in complex, dynamic environments, including a range of fields and international settings. Written by leading practitioners, chapters offer a rare window into what it takes to do DE, what roles must be fulfilled, and what results can be expected. Each case opens with an incisive introduction by the editors. The book also addresses frequently asked questions about DE, synthesizes key themes and lessons learned from the exemplars, and identifies eight essential principles of DE. See also Michael Quinn Patton's Developmental Evaluation, the authoritative presentation of DE.