As a transdisciplinary profession, evaluation has much to offer to global change interventions that work toward a sustainable future across national boundaries, sectors, and issues. This book introduces Blue Marble evaluation, which provides a framework for developing, adapting, and evaluating major systems change initiatives involving complex networks of stakeholders. Michael Quinn Patton demonstrates how the four overarching principles and 12 operating principles of this...

A practical, inspirational, revolutionary guide to social innovationMany of us have a deep desire to make the world around us a better place. But often our good intentions are undermined by the fear that we are so insignificant in the big scheme of things that nothing we can do will actually help feed the world’s hungry, fix the damage of a Hurricane Katrina or even get a healthy lunch program up and running in the local school. We tend to think that great social c...

Responding to evaluator and instructor demand, this book presents a diverse set of high-quality developmental evaluation (DE) case studies. Twelve insightful exemplars illustrate how DE is used to evaluate innovative initiatives in complex, dynamic environments, including a range of fields and international settings. Written by leading practitioners, chapters offer a rare window into what it takes to do DE, what roles must be fulfilled, and what results can be expected. Each case opens wit...

How do we help our friends who have just become Christians or are young in the faith? In this concise and accessible book, Mike Patton unpacks the basics of the Christian faith, helping new believers think rightly about God and live fully for God as they begin their new life in Christ. In ten easy-to-read chapters, Patton introduces readers to the foundational teachings and life-giving practices of Christianity—from the doctrine of the Trinity to reading and unde...

Drawing on more than 40 years of experience conducting applied social science research and program evaluation, author Michael Quinn Patton has crafted the most comprehensive and systematic book on qualitative research and evaluation methods, inquiry frameworks, and analysis options available today. Now offering more balance between applied research and evaluation, this Fourth Edition illuminates all aspects of qualitative inquiry through new examples, stories, and cartoons...

Philosophy like you've never seen it beforeThe latest in the celebrated Cartoon Introduction series, The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy is an authoritative and engaging guide to the fundamental questions about our existence. In this indispensable primer, Kevin Cannon—one of the talented illustrators behind Evolution and The Stuff of Life—and the philosopher Michael F. Patton introduce the wisecracking Greek Heraclitus, who hops in a c...

A profiler. A physical therapist. A killer who leaves little trace.When FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit Coordinator John Martin is assigned to a string of brutal murders in San Francisco, he expects resistance from local law enforcement—not from a civilian witness. But Katelyn Harris isn't just any witness. She's a physical therapist with an expert understanding of human movement—first brought into the case as an expert witness, she soon becomes a target of an attack ...

The military historian and tank expert examines the evolution of the Patton tank through archival photographs across four decades of armored warfare.In the early Cold War years, a tank more powerful than the Sherman or Pershing was needed. The first Patton tanks—the M46s—were converted Pershings which saw service in Korea. The M47, with a more effective 90mm gun and turret, was then developed to counter the Soviet military threat. Later, the diesel-powered M48A3 was...

Our world presents daily distractions that can easily displace Christ as the center of a man’s heart and life. The goal of the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible is to strengthen and encourage men through the life-giving Word of God and sound devotional content aimed at nurturing godliness.With 365 theologically rich and gospel-centered devotions drawn directly from the Bible, this all-new resource was created under the editorial oversight of Dr. Sam Storms with contributions from...

Thinking has, for many of us, become as passive as breathing.While it’s essential to our very existence, we devote little energy or time to cultivating it. Thought Work:Thinking, Action, and the Fate of the World challenges us to reinstate the restless, complicated activity of thinking as the heart of all education, life, and work.Our underappreciation of careful thought has crippled our ability to sustain a moral, conscience-driven society, and it now falls to each of us to examin...

Dan Williams has built an idyllic life in the remote hills near San Jose, CA. When a frantic call from a neighbor's wife comes, Dan and his uncles are shocked to find their neighbor dead in his workshop. Suspicion falls on Dan when his bloody hammer turns up at the scene. Meanwhile, two mysterious strangers seem to be playing a game of cat and mouse in the area.Dan soon finds himself as a suspect in the murder, the object of an investigating deputy's grudge and scrambling to try to...

"Death and the Devil's Henchmen" is the fourth novel in the Dan Williams and Syd mystery series.Suspicious-acting men appear claiming to be lawyers with an inheritance for Dan from relatives back east. The trouble is, Dan has no relatives on the east coast. Meanwhile, a local rancher turns up dead at his own front gate.Samantha, the owner of the local bar, has a hidden past that may be catching up to her. Her only choice is to run. Dan and his furry best friend Syd, are amo...