Datta, Lois-Ellin

(b. 1932, Paterson, New Jersey). Ph.D. Comparative and Physiological Psychology, M.A. Social Psychology, Bryn Mawr College; M.A. Sociology, B.A. Psychology, West Virginia University.

Datta is president of Datta Analysis, consulting in statistics, evaluation, and policy analysis. She worked for 30 years in Washington, DC, in the U.S. Department of Education as Director of the Teaching and Learning Program and in the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) as Director of Program Evaluation in Human Services.

Datta has consistently been interested in mixed methods approaches to evaluation, and her contribution to thoughtful evaluation design is substantial. For example, as Director of the National Evaluation for Head Start (she was responsible for one of the first Head Start contracts), she brought qualitative researchers into Head Start centers to observe individual child development. From her point of view, monomethods often are appropriate for evaluation questions and situations, but many of the evaluations in which she has been involved have used multiple approaches in the quest for both rich understanding and reasonable generalizability. Datta's Case Study Evaluations and The Prospective Evaluation Synthesis, both published in 1990 by the U.S. GAO, are influential, frequently cited works that have contributed to understandings about the complexity of evaluation and the need for thoughtful design decisions.

The title of Datta's doctoral dissertation, Maze Learning in the Earthworm, Lumbricus Terrestris, illustrates the breadth of her knowledge and interests. [Page 104]A significant influence on her evaluation theory and practice is the discovery of the variety of approaches to learning, from anthropology to physics to zoology. Her undergraduate and graduate research provided the opportunity to explore the theoretical and practical characteristics of learning in these various fields. Her views and work in evaluation have been greatly influenced by the work of Edward Suchman, Don Campbell, Marcia Guttentag, Michael Scriven, Michael Quinn Patton, and Eleanor Chelimsky.

Datta has played a large role in bringing together those interested in doing and studying evaluation. She was instrumental in the merger of the Society for Applied Social Research and the Evaluation Research Society. Also, during her terms as President of the Evaluation Research Society, Datta worked to merge that organization with Evaluation Network (ENet), a merger that occurred in 1986 to form the American Evaluation Association. As editor of New Directions for Program Evaluation, Datta promoted an emphasis on multiple perspectives on evaluation methods, both through topics chosen and in grooming Jennifer C. Greene and Gary Henry as the next editors. She is Senior Contributing Editor for Science Communication.

A recipient of both the American Evaluation Association's Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award in 1981 and the Robert Ingle Service Award in 1990, Datta retired to Hawaii, where she has served on numerous local boards and committees, including the Hualalai Academy, Girl Scouts, Kona and Waikoloa Outdoor Circles, Kona Krafts, and Hawaii Island United Way; she also served as Chair of the state's Goals 2000 Panel on Assessment. She enjoys spending time with her family, sailing, and growing organic coffee.