2002 Survey of Evaluation Preparation Programs in Universities

Entry into professions, such as medicine, law, and the clergy, is typically controlled. In contrast, evaluation has multiple pathways leading into the field. For evaluators, a graduate degree from a university program is one of several ways to become an evaluator. What university programs exist to prepare evaluators and what is their nature? In 2002, we undertook a survey of university-based evaluation preparation programs to answer this question and to update findings from prior surveys of university preparation programs for evaluators. In this article, we briefly review the results of previous surveys, discuss the methods for collecting the current data, and present the results and implications of the 2002 survey.