Publications
We are committed to advancing the fields of evaluation, learning, and organizational effectiveness through rigorous practice and thought leadership. Our publications reflect this commitment, sharing practical insights, tested approaches, and new ideas that help organizations strengthen performance and adapt in complex environments. Here you’ll find books, articles, and other resources authored by EnCompass leaders and experts, offering actionable guidance for practitioners, partners, and learners around the world.
Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry
By: Hallie Preskill (Author), Anastasia (Tessie) Tzavaras Catsambas (Author)
Published by Sage Publications, Inc., June 2026 | First Edition
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Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry is the first book to introduce the application of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), an approach for organizational development and change, to the practice of evaluation. Authors Hallie Preskill and Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas lay out the theoretical foundation of AI and build a bridge between the theory and practice of applying AI to evaluation.
Key Features:Provides a step-by-step guide: Written in a clear, accessible style, the text explains the way this particular approach has been used to frame, design, and conduct evaluations in various sectors worldwide.
Reflects specific real-world applications of AI to evaluation practice: Numerous U.S.-based and international case examples enhance readers′ ability to see the nuances of applying AI to evaluation in a wide variety of international and multicultural, organizational, community, and population contexts.
Offers a whole-systems approach: This text provides a whole systems approach which enables evaluation to deal with complex and dynamically changing programs.
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This book will appeal to a broad audience that includes evaluators, management and organization development consultants, program staff, and researchers in a wide variety of organizational and community settings. It is an ideal supplemental text for graduate courses that require students to practice evaluation.
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"I enjoyed the book. I found the approach refreshing and useful. The structure of the book made the argument easy to follow...Practitioners of evaluation, or any organizational change process, will find the approach useful.
―Anona Armstrong, Evaluation Journal of Australasia
"This important volume represents a paradigm shift in the evaluation field – presenting an approach that shifts evaluation from being something that we ′should′ do to something that stakeholders can ′look forward′ to doing, even something they might actually love doing… turning what can often be drudgery that ends up with reports that sit on shelves to dynamic processes that are downright fun, while at the same time profound, resulting in accelerating positive change in organizations, programs, and those who are part of them. The book challenges the basic tenets underlying evaluation, pushes the boundaries of the discipline. The field may never be the same."
―Malcolm J. Odell, Jr., Appreciative Inquiry Consulting, LLC"I am delighted that the authors have taken AI and found new uses for this approach. They provide concrete examples of the many ways evaluators have successfully used the AI approach in a wide variety of program and geographic settings. Combining theory and practice, this book is an important contribution to the evaluation field."
―Gail Johnson, The Evergreen State College
Evaluation Management: How to Commission Evaluations that Matter
By: Anastasia (Tessie) Tzavaras Catsambas (Author), E. Jane Davidson (Author)
Published by Sage Publications, Inc., March 2024 | First Edition
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Evaluation Management: How to Commission and Conduct Evaluations that Matter helps evaluation teams and commissioners achieve results that meet utilization and organizational learning goals and inform positive change for programs and communities. Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas and E. Jane Davidson provide insights on both the tactical and strategic levels of evaluation management, using approaches and skills from project management, administration and logistics, budgeting, team management, leadership development, communication, coaching, systems thinking, and negotiation. They also demonstrate how intentionality for equity, sustainability and culturally responsive practices is essential for ensuring an evaluation’s relevance and enhancing productive stakeholder engagement.
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With plenty of practical guidance from many years of experience, the authors provide a valuable resource for student readers, experienced evaluators, and commissioners of evaluation.
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“Evaluation quality and use depend on evaluation management. That makes this book essential for all evaluation professionals and commissioners of evaluations.” -- Michael Quinn Patton
“This is a comprehensive ‘one-stop shop’ guide for evaluation practitioners and evaluation managers: practical, succinct, and full of common-sense advice and wisdom. It shows that the authors speak from experience and expertise.” -- Huilan Krenn
“A savvy introduction to evaluation management by authors who had, independently from each other and almost alone in the community, provided insight on this topic. Evaluation will look more significant and worthwhile if managed the way it is suggested in this book.” -- Nicoletta Stame
“Catsambas and Davidson provide a practical, easy-to-read overview of how to manage program evaluations.” -- Marcus Galeste
Research Handbook on Program Evaluation, Edited by Kathryn E. Newcomer and Steven W. Mumford, Edward Elgar Publishing, June 2024
Chapter 13: Building Evaluation Capacity: Tessie Catsambas and Ghazia Aslam
Ethics for Evaluation: “Beyond Doing No Harm” to “Tackling Bad” and “Doing Good” (Comparative Policy Evaluation), Edited by Rob D. van den Berg (Editor), Penny Hawkins (Editor), Nicoletta Stame (Editor), Routledge, December 2021
Chapter: Ethical Practice through a Transformative Lens and Methodological Implications in Evaluation: Donna M. Mertens, Tessie Catsambas