Organizational Capacity to Do and Use Evaluation New Directions for Evaluation, Number 141

Gain a greater understanding of organizational capacity to do and use evaluation and implications for evaluation capacity building (ECB). This volume is unique in that it represents a multiple case study of eight organizations that were committed to ECB. It:

• Situates the study in terms of ECB theory and research
• Delineates a conceptual framework
• Presents case profile reports and the results of a cross-case analysis.
• Discusses findings in terms of implications for research, theory, and practice.

This is the 141st issue in the New Directions for Evaluation series from Jossey-Bass. It is an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

J. Bradley Cousins is a professor of educational administration in the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, and editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation.

Isabelle Bourgeois is the editor of Organizational Capacity to Do and Use Evaluation: New Directions for Evaluation, Number 141, published by Wiley.

Editors’ Notes 1
J. Bradley Cousins, Isabelle Bourgeois

1. Framing the Capacity to Do and Use Evaluation 7
J. Bradley Cousins, Swee C. Goh, Catherine J. Elliott, Isabelle Bourgeois

This introductory chapter focuses on evolving conceptions of evaluation capacity building through an in-depth discussion of evaluation use and organizational evaluation capacity. We present the guiding framework for our multiple case study and also identify implications for research and practice stemming from the framework.

2. Multiple Case Study Methods and Findings 25
J. Bradley Cousins, Isabelle Bourgeois, and Associates

This chapter presents the eight cases within which we studied organizational evaluation capacity. We first begin by presenting the purpose and rationale of our work, followed by the methods we used to collect and analyze case data. We then shift our attention to each of the individual cases:

Case 1. Dawson College
Catherine J. Elliott, J. Bradley Cousins, Swee C. Goh

Case 2. Canadian Mental Health Association
Sarah Birnie, Tim Aubry

Case 3. International Development Research Centre
Courtney Amo, J. Bradley Cousins

Case 4. Canadian Cancer Society
Steve Montague, Anne Vezina, Sharon Campbell, Anna Engman

Case 5. Canada Revenue Agency
Swee C. Goh, Catherine J. Elliott

Case 6. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Isabelle Bourgeois, Robert E. Lahey

Case 7. United Way of Greater Toronto (UWGT)
Jill Anne Chouinard, J. Bradley Cousins, Swee C. Goh

Case 8. Ontario Trillium Foundation
Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, Catherine J. Elliott

3. Cross-Case Analysis and Implications for Research, Theory, and Practice 101
J. Bradley Cousins, Isabelle Bourgeois

This chapter focuses on the cross-case analysis and presents the themes that have emerged from the multiple case study. More specifically, we include details on the characteristics of the organizations that took part in the study, and we then turn to a thematic analysis and discussion of key findings. In the spirit of continuing this work, we offer implications for research, theory, and practice to close the chapter.

4. Postscript: That Was Then, This Is Now 121
J. Bradley Cousins, Isabelle Bourgeois

We provide some concluding reflections about the sustainability of organizational capacity for evaluation arising from informal communications with some of our case organizations.

Index 125

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