Revisiting Truth, Beauty,and Justice: Evaluating With Validity in the 21st Century: New Directions for Evaluation, Number 142 (J–B PE Single Issue (Program) Evaluation) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

JAMES C. GRIFFITH is a doctoral candidate for a dual degree in philosophy and psychology at the Claremont Graduation University and a lead evaluator at the Claremont Evaluation Center. BIANCA MONTROSSE-MOORHEAD is an assistant professor in the Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment program, a research scientist for the Collaborative on Strategic Education Reform (CSER), and coordinator of the Graduate Certificate Program in Program Evaluation at the University of Connecticut.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

When Ernest House published Evaluating with Validity in 1980, he wasn&;t just attempting to expand the way the field thought of validity in evaluation. He was also proposing a new way of thinking about evaluation itself. The sense of validity House applied to evaluation was the more general sense of argumentative validity. He contended, &;one must take seriously the opinions of other people and engage them in serious discourse. This is the realm of argumentation and the proper sphere of evaluation&; (House, 1980, p. 94). In doing so, he proposed that we see evaluation as argumentation. This sense of validity does not displace predictive validity or existing validity typologies. Instead, viewing evaluation as argumentation puts the role of predictive validity in proper perspective&;as one component of the complex arguments that evaluative investigations produce.

The chapters in this issue discuss ways of constructing, organizing, and managing arguments for evaluation. This is not a collection of writings about the logic of evaluation, nor is it a collection of writings
narrowly focused on predictive validity. Instead, the chapters here deal with the various elements needed to construct evaluation arguments that are compelling and influential by virtue of the truth, beauty, and
justice they express. Through exposition, original research, critical reflection, and application to case examples, the authors present tools, perspectives, and guides to help evaluators navigate the complex contexts of evaluation in the 21st century.