There are many, many books and journal articles about program evaluation available, ranging from highly theoretical and academic to user-friendly guides and checklists. With the exception of the final section on Indigenous approaches to evaluation, we have focused our attention on links to web-based materials that are readily available and are written in a style that can be helpful to non-evaluators.
Professional Associations
Canadian Evaluation Society
The Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) is the professional association for evaluation in Canada. Their website provides general information on the organization, as well as frequently updated information on training events across Canada, including webinars.
The Canadian Evaluation Society publishes the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation three times a year. The journal, which promotes the theory and practice of program evaluation in Canada, is available to non-members as well as members.
You may also want to look at the Program Evaluation Standards, which have been adopted by the CES to guide the practice of evaluation in Canada.
The Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) is the professional association for evaluation in Canada. Their website provides general information on the organization, as well as frequently updated information on training events across Canada, including webinars.
The Canadian Evaluation Society publishes the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation three times a year. The journal, which promotes the theory and practice of program evaluation in Canada, is available to non-members as well as members.
You may also want to look at the Program Evaluation Standards, which have been adopted by the CES to guide the practice of evaluation in Canada.
General Resources
Many organizations have produced evaluation resources and toolkits, and there are numerous examples available online. Here are a few that are user-friendly and helpful.
Better Evaluation
Better Evaluation is an international collaboration to share methods and approaches. This website is an excellent resource for all things evaluation! In addition to explaining different approaches, describing methods, and providing examples, it will provide a definition for any term you might come across and provide links to further reading.
Evaluation Building Blocks
Evaluation Building Blocks is a new guidebook prepared by the Kinnect Group in New Zealand. It is a simple, clear, straightforward guide to conducting an evaluation in 21 pages, put together by a team of world-respected evaluators based on their collective experience.
Indigenous Guardians Toolkit
The Indigenous Guardians Toolkit was created to provide communities interested in designing and implement Indigenous Guardian programs with easy-to-access information. The toolkit includes resources on monitoring and collecting data, and conducting research.
Program Evaluation Toolkit: Planning, Doing, and Using Evaluation
The Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health has a Program Evaluation Toolkit available online that walks you through all the phases of an evaluation with simple checklists and suggestions.
Community Tool Box
The Centre for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas has produced a Community Tool Box to help with community initiatives, and they have a chapter on evaluation that includes useful checklists and links to other resources.
Evaluation Toolkit for Youth Programs
This evaluation toolkit for youth programs out of Ontario (an initiative of the Youth Research and Evaluation eXchange) is fun and informative. It has a particular focus on evaluating youth well-being but the overall evaluation tips are useful for all programs.
Sage Advice
This guide was produced by Reciprocal Consulting to support program evaluation within and by northern, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Hunter/Harvester/Guardian Evaluation Toolkit
Makeway in collaboration with their partners have developed a toolkit that can help support Indigenous organization and communities to evaluate the impacts of their harvesting, hunting, and guardian programming as well as contribute to the shared learning among Hunter/Harvester/Guardian programs across Indigenous communities.
Better Evaluation
Better Evaluation is an international collaboration to share methods and approaches. This website is an excellent resource for all things evaluation! In addition to explaining different approaches, describing methods, and providing examples, it will provide a definition for any term you might come across and provide links to further reading.
Evaluation Building Blocks
Evaluation Building Blocks is a new guidebook prepared by the Kinnect Group in New Zealand. It is a simple, clear, straightforward guide to conducting an evaluation in 21 pages, put together by a team of world-respected evaluators based on their collective experience.
Indigenous Guardians Toolkit
The Indigenous Guardians Toolkit was created to provide communities interested in designing and implement Indigenous Guardian programs with easy-to-access information. The toolkit includes resources on monitoring and collecting data, and conducting research.
Program Evaluation Toolkit: Planning, Doing, and Using Evaluation
The Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health has a Program Evaluation Toolkit available online that walks you through all the phases of an evaluation with simple checklists and suggestions.
Community Tool Box
The Centre for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas has produced a Community Tool Box to help with community initiatives, and they have a chapter on evaluation that includes useful checklists and links to other resources.
Evaluation Toolkit for Youth Programs
This evaluation toolkit for youth programs out of Ontario (an initiative of the Youth Research and Evaluation eXchange) is fun and informative. It has a particular focus on evaluating youth well-being but the overall evaluation tips are useful for all programs.
Sage Advice
This guide was produced by Reciprocal Consulting to support program evaluation within and by northern, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Hunter/Harvester/Guardian Evaluation Toolkit
Makeway in collaboration with their partners have developed a toolkit that can help support Indigenous organization and communities to evaluate the impacts of their harvesting, hunting, and guardian programming as well as contribute to the shared learning among Hunter/Harvester/Guardian programs across Indigenous communities.
Government of the Northwest Territories Guides and Toolkits
The GNWT Department of Finance has produced useful guides to Program Design and Planning, and to Program Monitoring and Evaluation. These documents are filled with definitions and examples, and accompanied by workbooks that allow you to test out the concepts on your own programs.
Program Design and Planning
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Program Design and Planning
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Indigenous Approaches to Evaluation
Clara Anderson, Malinda Chase, James Johnson III, Debbie Mekiana, Drena McIntyre, Amelia Ruerup, and Sandy Kerr, "It Is Only New Because It Has Been Missing for so Long: Indigenous Evaluation Capacity Building," American Journal of Evaluation, 2012.
Jane Gray Grover, "Challenges in Applying Indigenous Evaluation Practices in Mainstream Grant Programs to Indigenous Communities," The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2010.
Katie Johnston-Goodstar, "Decolonizing Evaluation: The Necessity of Evaluation Advisory Groups in Indigenous Evaluation," New Directions for Evaluation, 2012.
Alice J. Kawakami, Kanani Aton, Fiona Cram, Morris K. Lai, and Laurie Porima, "Improving the Practice of Evaluation Through Indigenous Values and Methods: Decolonizing Evaluation Practice--Returning the Gaze from Hawai'i and Aotearoa," Hülili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being, 2007.
Joan LaFrance and Richard Nichols, "Reframing Evaluation: Defining an Indigenous Evaluation Framework," The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2010.
Joan LaFrance, Richard Nichols, and Karen Kirkhart, "Culture Writes the Script: On the Centrality of Context in Indigenous Evaluation," New Directions for Evaluation, 2012.
Sally Leiderman, "Doing Evaluation Differently," Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building, 2005.
Hayley Marama Cavino, "Across the Colonial Divide: Conversations About Evaluation in Indigenous Contexts," American Journal of Evaluation, 2013.
National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, "Indigenous Approaches to Program Evaluation," 2013.
John Scougall, "Reconciling Tensions Between Principles and Practices in Indigenous Evaluation," Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 2006.
Jane Gray Grover, "Challenges in Applying Indigenous Evaluation Practices in Mainstream Grant Programs to Indigenous Communities," The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2010.
Katie Johnston-Goodstar, "Decolonizing Evaluation: The Necessity of Evaluation Advisory Groups in Indigenous Evaluation," New Directions for Evaluation, 2012.
Alice J. Kawakami, Kanani Aton, Fiona Cram, Morris K. Lai, and Laurie Porima, "Improving the Practice of Evaluation Through Indigenous Values and Methods: Decolonizing Evaluation Practice--Returning the Gaze from Hawai'i and Aotearoa," Hülili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being, 2007.
Joan LaFrance and Richard Nichols, "Reframing Evaluation: Defining an Indigenous Evaluation Framework," The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2010.
Joan LaFrance, Richard Nichols, and Karen Kirkhart, "Culture Writes the Script: On the Centrality of Context in Indigenous Evaluation," New Directions for Evaluation, 2012.
Sally Leiderman, "Doing Evaluation Differently," Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building, 2005.
Hayley Marama Cavino, "Across the Colonial Divide: Conversations About Evaluation in Indigenous Contexts," American Journal of Evaluation, 2013.
National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, "Indigenous Approaches to Program Evaluation," 2013.
John Scougall, "Reconciling Tensions Between Principles and Practices in Indigenous Evaluation," Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 2006.