Dealing with Complexity in Development Evaluation by Michael Bamberger, Jos L. Vaessen, and Estelle Raimondo is a practical guide for people who commission, implement and use evaluations of complex development interventions. It is organized to combine user-friendly relatively non-technical overview chapters that will be accessible to a broad audience, with more in-depth discussion of cutting-edge topics.
The first part of the book provides a framework for dealing with complexity, and this is followed by chapters on methodological approaches (including mixed methods) and emerging technologies including big data. Six case study chapters provide examples from around the world and a variety of evaluation contexts. The book will be useful as a supplementary text in higher education for courses in program evaluation, as a professional resource in the field, and as a text for professional development workshops.
About the Editors
Michael Bamberger has almost 40 years of experience in development evaluation, including a decade working with nongovernmental organizations in Latin America, almost 25 years working on evaluation with the World Bank in most of the social and economic sectors and in most regions of the world, and 10 years as an independent evaluation consultant, including programs with 10 United Nations agencies and multilateral and bilateral development agencies.
He has published three books and several monographs and handbooks on development evaluation, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. He has been active for 20 years with the American Evaluation Association, serving on the Board and as Chair of the International Committee.
He has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of New Directions for Evaluation, the Journal of Development Effectiveness, the Journal of Mixed Methods Research, and the American Journal of Evaluation and is a regular reviewer for several professional evaluation journals. He has taught program evaluation in more than 30 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East and, since 2002, has been on the Faculty of the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; since 2001, has also lectured at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) in Tokyo.
Industry Reviews
This volume provides useful guidance to development evaluation specialists to deal with their increasingly complex contexts and tasks. -- Mark Ginsburg The book shows, through a meticulous review of academic studies and some specific cases of real evaluations, that complex development interventions can be evaluated effectively and some of the techniques that make this possible. -- John Mathiason This is the 'nuts and bolts' book that evaluation practitioners have been waiting for. Authored by highly experienced evaluators and grounded in real life examples from all parts of the world it illuminates the core ideas of complexity theory, makes sense of abstruse systems concepts and guides the reader through the contemporary maze of program theory, mixed methods and web based information technologies. A lucid and comprehensive treatment of the evaluation state of the art it is a must-have text for emerging evaluators, advanced evaluators and evaluation managers operating in uncertain, turbulent and conflict ridden environments. -- Robert Picciotto This is an extremely useful book when managing and carrying out evaluations of the increasingly complex nature of international development. It should be required reading for everyone involved in assessing results of development cooperation. -- Per Oyvind Bastoe This book is impressive in its breadth and depth of coverage of a topic increasingly on the minds of evaluation practitioners. It provides much needed practical guidance and valuable conceptual insights in an area that's often discussed but rarely well understood. The book will appeal to a wide range of experienced evaluation professionals, emerging evaluators and students of evaluation. -- Penny Hawkins This is one of the most important books ever published in the field of development evaluation. Dealing with complex systems is a premier challenge for evaluators working in real life situations. As a practitioner in the field I cannot emphasize the value of this book enough. The authors tackle the issue of complexity and its critical significance from both theoretical and practical points of view. They offer concrete ways in which evaluators and organizations can deal effectively with complexity. The editors, each one of them an eminent authority in the field, have put together a group of authors who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. Highly recommended to evaluation commissioners and practitioners, as well as those with an interest in the scientific aspects of evaluation approaches and methodologies. -- Juha I. Uitto This is the first book that seeks to operationalize a complexity perspective into mainstream development evaluation, focusing on the specificities of this broad based sector, encompassing multiple objectives, institutions, contexts, constituencies and beneficiaries. The main conclusions can speak then to larger audiences of evaluators, program designers, managers, and researchers throughout the world, making a very useful contribution to evaluation culture and practice. -- Mita Marra
