New Directions For Evaluation: Proposal Format

Instructions

Please use the following format when submitting a proposal to New Directions for Evaluation. Address all topics listed below in your proposal.

I. Proposed Title

II. Volume Editor(s)

Please list Volume Editors in the order in which you would like to list their names on the final volume. To assure efficient communications, we ask that if there are co-editors, one be designated the primary contact person. Please place an asterisk (*) next to the name of the editor who will be responsible for all correspondence. For all Volume Editors, please supply the following:

• Name (as you would like it to appear)
• Institutional Affiliation
• Complete mailing address
• Telephone number(s)
• Fax number (if available)
• Email address(s)
• Short (one paragraph) “About the Editor” description including major evaluation publications and interests.

III. Brief Overview

Describe the major focus of the volume in one paragraph. Also, briefly describe the overall strategy you will use in organizing the volume (see “Types of Volumes” in the Purpose section).

IV.Justification

State how this volume will explicitly address each of the following major criteria for acceptance. This section should be 2 to 3 pages in length.

• Scope. Why is this issue / topic important? Why do you think it would be of broad interest to the evaluation community? If this is a proposal on a substantive topic, such as mental health, identify the broader issues of interest to the general evaluation community (e.g., internal versus external evaluation, problems with monitoring systems, etc.).

• Novelty and Timeliness. How “new” is the issue/topic you are addressing? Does it represent an innovation or is it a novel extension of previous work? Are there any current publications that are similar to the one you envision? If so, please reference them explicitly. Have any past NDE issues been published on topics relating to yours? If so, how will you improve on them? Is the work in this issue already published elsewhere or currently under review?

• Quality. Explain why you believe this issue/topic would represent state-of-the-art quality work in program evaluation.

• Audience. How do you intend to assure that the volume addresses a varied audience of evaluators ranging from theorists to methodologists to practitioners?

• Level of Presentation. How do you intend to address any technical material not generally familiar to the wider evaluation audience?

V. Outline of the Volume

1. Provide a proposed table of contents.

2. Provide an abstract for the entire proposal, not to exceed 250 words in length.

3. Provide chapter information in a separate section for each chapter.

a. Title of proposed chapter.
b. Author(s). For each author, please provide the following:

- Name (as they would like it to appear)
- Institutional Affiliation
- Complete Mailing Address
- Telephone Number(s)
- Email Address(s)

The guest editors should inform each contributor that acceptance of his or her proposed chapter is contingent on the results of the review of the proposal.

c. A one-or two-page narrative description of the chapter that provides sufficient detail for the reviewers to judge the merits of the proposal.

VI. Other Considerations

Present other aspects of the proposed journal issue, if any, that you think will be informative or useful for the reviewers to consider when examining the proposal.