Introduction to Holistic Evaluation
Defines evaluation in terms of the purpose of the activity or program being evaluated;
Seeks to relate means to ends, distinguishing efficient from final causes;
Conceptualizes evaluation as an on-going process which examines every aspect of program operation (including process and product or impact) and provides immediate feedback for its timely modification, including modification of the evaluation scheme itself;
Recognizes that data collected rarely speak for themselves, but require interpretation which takes into account (1) the probable accuracy and weight or significance of data as determined by the type of data, their source and the time and means of collection, and (2) the purpose for which the data and their interpretation is to be used (i.e., question of relevance);
Stresses the value of longitudinal studies and cautions against the ready acceptance of short-term effects as proof of significant impact;
Designates comparative analysis of children's interactions with particular environments and their developmental consequences as the focal point of inquiry;
Affirms the indispensability of recognizing internal states of the organism (such as subjective aim, intentions, or memory) as causal influences on behavior;
Admits the ineffability of many vital aspects of human experience (thereby avoiding possible inadvertent biases preceding from an unrecognized assumption that whatever is not measurable is not important);
Allies the purpose of evaluation with the heuristic, explanatory, and predictive functions of research and science;
Employs evaluation results as an important stimulus to the re-examination and refinement of the philosophy underlying the model and the body of theory on which its operationalization depends.
Citation: Jordan, D. (1974). A summary statement of the ANISA model. Cambridge, MA: ANISA.