Theory-Driven Evaluation And Its Application In Program Evaluation

Evaluations have become more and more important in program management. It is imperative to study and apply mature evaluation theories and methodologies. Theory-Driven Evaluation aims to answer questions raised by program stakeholders by identifying evaluation strategies and methodologies for data collection and analysis. It is characterized by its action model, change model, implementation success, action theory success, and conceptual theory success.The research is about the theory-driven evaluation and its application in program evaluation. [Objectives] To describe the theory and methodology about the theory-driven evaluation; To apply it in a case study; To clarify its advantages and disadvantages. [Methodologies] Systematically learn theories about program evaluations; Learn the theory and methodology about the theory-driven evaluation; Based on evaluation practice, describe the core of the theory-driven evaluation; Clarify the theory-driven evaluation methods and steps, as well as its advantages and disadvantages in a case study. [Conclusions and Suggestions] (1) The advantages of theory-driven evaluation include its conceptual framework of program theory, program components, three level successes, and accountability evaluation. (2) Its disadvantages include its new terms that might be hard to promote, and its change model evaluation that requires more statistical methodologies and techniques. (3) Points to pay attention to cover two aspects: one is that every specific program theory is from the program stakeholders; the other is that these program theories are often different from one another.