New Directions for Evaluation (NDE)

New Directions for Evaluation (NDE) and the American Journal of Evaluation are the two official publications of the American Evaluation Association. The editors of each are appointed by the AEA Board. The publications represent the professional excellence sought by the association and fulfill one of AEA's missions in promoting the development of evaluation as a field. The contents are consistent broadly with the policies, practices, and standards of AEA.

Conceived as a sourcebook, in which an issue or approach can be examined in more depth than it could be in a journal article, New Directions in Evaluation began under the editorship of Scarvia Anderson, with its roots in the national conventions of the Evaluation Research Society, which joined in 1986 with the Evaluation Network to become AEA. Many panel discussions at these meetings had outstanding presentations. At the time, there were books on evaluation but no refereed evaluation journals, and there was an expressed need for a monograph-length, relatively fast publication. The periodical was called New Directions for Program Evaluation at the beginning, but Michael Scriven successfully argued for a more inclusive journal title, a change that started with issue 68, “Reasoning in Evaluation,” edited by Deborah Fournier.

For many years, NDE has been a refereed publication. A proposal for an issue, which must be on a single topic with contributions organized by the guest editor or editors, is sent to the editors-in-chief of NDE. The proposal is in a sense a mini-issue, [Page 279]presenting a comprehensive discussion of the proposed theme and its justification. Summaries of the proposed chapters by the prospective authors are extensive and complete. Proposals in turn receive thorough written reviews, according to the established protocol, by several (usually four to six) members of the Editorial Board. The proposal additionally may be reviewed by relevant substantive experts. This permits fairly detailed interaction between issue editors and the editors-in-chief, helping ensure the quality and relevance of the issue. The guest editor and the editors-in-chief also review the final manuscript before its publication and distribution by Jossey-Bass.

Over the past 15 years, more than 100 issues of NDE have appeared, under the guidance of editors-in-chief that have included Scarvia Anderson, Ronald Wooldridge, Ernest House, Mark Lipsey, Neil Smith, Willam Shadish, Lois-ellin Datta, Jennifer Greene, and Gary Henry. The first issue, edited by Scarvia Anderson and Claire Coles, was “Exploring Purposes and Dimensions,” followed by Charlotte and Robert Rentz's “Evaluating Federal Programs.” Subsequent topics have included (a) forums on methodology and theory, such as evaluation models, secondary analysis, survey research, and qualitative and quantitative methods; (b) examinations of the intersection of evaluation and broader social questions, such as multicultural evaluation, evaluation as a democratic process, and diversity in evaluation; (c) shared experiences and lessons learned—sometimes rueful, sometimes encouraging—such as experiences with control group designs in evaluation and in conducting multisite evaluations in real-world settings; and (d) presentation of newer approaches, such as the use of templates in evaluation, program theory, and appreciative inquiry.

Shorter than a book, much longer than an article, NDE has provided a forum for empirical, methodological, and theoretical work in evaluation. The common thread is a reflective approach, seeking balance and examination of a topic, more than advocacy for (or against) issues in these three broad areas.

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