Fourth-Generation Evaluation

Fourth-generation evaluation, as its name implies, is the successor model incorporating three earlier generations of evaluation models (objectives, description, judgment) and moving beyond them to include intensive stakeholder participation in determining both the course of the evaluation and, as well, what actions should be taken on the evaluation results. In fourth-generation evaluation, the definition of stakeholder is considerably expanded to include not only program funders and managers but also targets of the program (those who, but for the program, might have had a program of their own) and other members of the community who have an interest or stake in the outcomes of the program being evaluated.

Fourth-generation evaluation begins with sharply different assumptions, which lead, in turn, to different modes of operating in the context. ...