How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation, Vol. 4

How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation — a new volume in the Program Evaluation Kit — reflects the growing use of qualitative techniques in the evaluation process. The author differentiates the qualitative approach in method and philosophy from more traditional quantitative methods and specifies the kinds of evaluation question for which it is most appropriate. The design decisions and sampling strategies which underlie the method are explained. Patton also includes clearly illustrated step-by-step guides for planning and conducting fieldwork and observations, in-depth interviewing, and analysing, interpreting and reporting results.

Introduces the reader to qualitative approaches--a major development in the field of evaluation during the last decade. This volume presents an introduction to the approach--differentiates it in the method and philosophy from more traditional quantitative methods; specifies the kinds of evaluation questions for which it is most appropriate; and explains the design decisions and sampling strategies which underlie its implementation. Step-by-step guides for planning and conducting fieldwork and observations; doing in-depth interviewing; analyzing, interpreting and reporting results; and many examples--from a wide range of disciplines and professions--clarify the use of qualitative methods in evaluations.

Michael Quinn Patton lives in Minnesota where, according to the state's poet laureate, Garrison Keillor, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." It was this lack of interesting statistical variation in Minnesota that led him to qualitative inquiry despite the strong quantitative orientation of his doctoral studies in sociology at the University of Wisconsin. He serves on the graduate faculty of The Union Institute, a nontraditional, interdisciplinary, nonresidential and individually designed doctoral program. He was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for 18 years, including five years as Director of the Minnesota Center for Social Research, where he was awarded the Morse-Amoco Award for innovative teaching. Readers of this book will not be surprised to learn that he has also won the University of Minnesota storytelling competition.

He has authored five other Sage books: Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Creative Evaluation, Practical Evaluation, How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation, and Family Sexual Abuse: Frontline Research and Evaluation. He edited Culture and Evaluation for the journal New Direction in Program Evaluation. His creative nonfiction book, Grand Canyon Celebration: A Father-Son Journey of Discovery, was a finalist for 1999 Minnesota Book of the Year.

He is former President of the American Evaluation Association and the only recipient of both the Alva and Gunner Myrdal Award for Outstanding Contributions to Useful and Practical Evaluation from the Evaluation ResearchSociety and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for Lifelong Contributions to Evaluation Theory from the American Evaluation Association. The Society for Applied Sociology awarded him the 2001 Lester F. Ward Award for Outstanding Contributions to Applied Sociology.