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The current climate of budgetary restraints and fiscal conservatism in both the public and private sectors makes even more critical the need for assuring that maximal value is received for dollars spent on programs. Programs are no longer funded solely on the basis of a political constituency asking for something new and different. Once funded, there are no assurances that the program will be continued. Implicit in this statement is that evaluations which in the past may have been considered a nice activity to attempt, now need to be undertaken as a matter of course. As critical as the need for evaluation may be, one is not always conducted. A problem confronting many of those in the public sector is that evaluators and evaluation programs are not cheap. In addition, there are not that many people in the public sector who know how to conduct program evaluations.
Recognizing the need for a comprehensive manual on evaluation, the editors of the Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation have produced an almost encyclopedic manual that is directed towards those in the public and nonprofit sectors. The book is designed to provide "not overly expensive evaluative information," a task of great magnitude. Practical program evaluation is considered by the authors to be a means by which programs can be evaluated at reasonable cost and without extensive involvement of outside experts. It is important to emphasize that although the focus is on techniques that can be completed with limited rigor, there is no discounting the need...