The Dollars & Sense of Evaluation: Proving Program Value When It Matters Most

Led by the Washington Evaluators, October 7th 12:00pm-1:00pm ET

Event Description:

In today’s climate, when critical programs are facing funding cuts or threats of elimination, evaluators are increasingly asked to demonstrate not only whether programs work, but also how much they cost and how program outcomes compare to program costs. This session, led by Brian Yates, offers timely insights into how cost-inclusive evaluation (CIE) can equip evaluators and researchers to meet that challenge.

Brian will clarify the often-confused distinctions between cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and social return on investment (SROI), explaining what each can and cannot add to evaluations, and how to know when to use them. Drawing on more than 50 years of work in health and human services, he will illustrate how CIE uncovers the relationships between program costs and both monetary and nonmonetary outcomes, with examples from interventions in child and family services, suicide prevention, consumer-operated mental health care, and more.

Beyond the numbers, participants will see how CIE goes deeper—mapping resource → activity, activity → process, and process → outcome pathways. Accessible graphic approaches will also be shared to help evaluators engage participants, providers, and community members in understanding program value.

Brief question-and-Answer opportunities bookend each part of this conceptual and example-based session. We hope that, after this session, you will be empowered to better request, interpret, and explain cost analyses in ways that resonate with decision-makers—and to better defend programs that work well and are worth our social investment in their preservation and dissemination.

Presenter: Brian Yates is Professor Emeritus at American University in Washington DC, having retired May 2025. He joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1976 immediately after he received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. Dr. Yates’ 107 publications to date include 6 books, numerous peer-reviewed articles, a variety of book chapters, and a 124-page manual for cost-inclusive evaluation published by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse. Much of Dr. Yates’s work focuses on applying cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses to formative evaluation of health and human services, including youth mentoring and parent training initiatives, prevention and treatment of substance abuse, obesity treatments, computer-based cognitive-behavioral therapies, suicide prevention, international emergency assistance for at-risk individuals and groups, and programs for unhoused youth and adults.

Please join the Washington Evaluators for our monthly meeting. Members and non-members are welcome. Please note that Board meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Location: Online. Zoom link will be sent to those who register. 

Time: 6:30-8:00 pm ET

Agenda: 

1. Welcome and Agenda Review 
2. Governance:
   • Approval of last month's meeting minutes (Secretary)
   • Review of monthly financials (Treasurer)
3. General Announcements
4. President's Report
5. Treasurer's Report
6. Committee Updates:
   • Program
   • Community Engagement (Mentor Minutes, EWB, Scholarships)
   • Communications 
   • Membership
7. Board Action Items (if any)
   

For questions about this event, please email president@washingtonevaluators.org.

Charting Your Own Path: How Evaluators Can Lead, Write & Consult

**$10 FOR NON-MEMBERS AND FREE FOR MEMBERS. CLICK HERE TO BECOME A MEMBER TODAY**

Led by the Washington Evaluators, November 6th, 12:00pm-1:00pm ET

Event Description:

At a time when evaluation programs face uncertainty and change—especially in federal agencies—many evaluators are asking how they can take their careers into their own hands. Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned professional considering your next chapter, this webinar offers inspiration and practical direction.

Join us for a conversation with Donna M. Mertens, PhD, Professor Emeritus, past president of the American Evaluation Association, and a global leader in transformative evaluation. With over 50 years of experience teaching, conducting, and writing about transformative evaluation, Dr. Mertens built a career that bridges scholarship, practice, and advocacy for human rights and social justice. Her work spans continents and communities, from addressing gender-based violence in Kyrgyzstan to advancing Indigenous pathways in research and evaluation.

In this session, Dr. Mertens will reflect on how evaluators can create independent, meaningful, and sustainable careers—through consulting, writing, thought leadership, and community-engaged practice. She will share lessons from her own journey and offer strategies for reimagining your role in a changing professional landscape.

If you are ready to leverage your expertise in evaluation to write, consult, or pursue work aligned with your values, this webinar will encourage and equip you with ideas for moving forward.

Presenter: Donna Mertens is Professor Emeritus at Gallaudet University with a specialization in research and evaluation methodologies designed to support social transformation. She has authored, co-authored, or edited many books that include mixed methods approaches to evaluation methods and human rights, most recently Mixed Methods Research, Program Evaluation Theory and Practice 3rd ed; Mixed Methods Design in Evaluation; Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity with Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods 6^th ed. She focuses on the intersection of research and evaluation with social, economic and environmental justice based on the precepts of the transformative paradigm. Mertens served as the editor for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research 2010–2014. She was President of the American Evaluation Association in 1998 and served on the Board from 1997 to 2002; she was a founding board member of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation and the Mixed Methods International Research Association.

Please join the Washington Evaluators for our monthly meeting. Members and non-members are welcome. Please note that Board meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Location: Online. Zoom link will be sent to those who register. 

Time: 6:30-8:00 pm ET

Agenda: 

1. Welcome and Agenda Review 
2. Governance:
   • Approval of last month's meeting minutes (Secretary)
   • Review of monthly financials (Treasurer)
3. General Announcements
4. President's Report
5. Treasurer's Report
6. Committee Updates:
   • Program
   • Community Engagement (Mentor Minutes, EWB, Scholarships)
   • Communications 
   • Membership
7. Board Action Items (if any)
   

For questions about this event, please email president@washingtonevaluators.org.

Please join the Washington Evaluators for our monthly meeting. Members and non-members are welcome. Please note that Board meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Location: Online. Zoom link will be sent to those who register. 

Time: 6:30-8:00 pm ET

Agenda: 

1. Welcome and Agenda Review 
2. Governance:
   • Approval of last month's meeting minutes (Secretary)
   • Review of monthly financials (Treasurer)
3. General Announcements
4. President's Report
5. Treasurer's Report
6. Committee Updates:
   • Program
   • Community Engagement (Mentor Minutes, EWB, Scholarships)
   • Communications 
   • Membership
7. Board Action Items (if any)
   

For questions about this event, please email president@washingtonevaluators.org.