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The American Evaluation Association is the
largest professional association of evaluators in
the world
MISSION: The American Evaluation Association’s
mission is to improve evaluation practices and
methods, increase evaluation use, promote
evaluation as a profession, and support the
contribution of evaluation to the generation of
theory and knowledge about effective human
action.
Over 7700 members from every state in the
United States and over 60 foreign countries
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Annual Conference
◦ Hundreds of conference sessions
◦ Over 50 professional development workshops
◦ Next conference: Denver, October 15-18, 2014
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Two journals:
◦ American Journal of Evaluation
◦ New Directions in Evaluation
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Networking and Community
◦ TIGs, job bank, newsletters, professional
development
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AEA has 49 TIGS
TIGs are subgroups of the association
comprised of members with common
interests. TIGs may be formed around
methodologies such as Needs Assessment,
around work contexts such as Government
Evaluation, around salient concerns such as
Feminist Issues, or around professional status
such as Independent Consultants.
Each member can select up to five TIGs
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For conference:
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General
◦ Primary vehicle for organizing and sponsoring
conference sessions, through soliciting presentations
and refereeing submitted proposals.
◦ Supporters of and contributors to the Presidential
Strand.
◦ Providing cohesion to and a vehicle for a natural
clustering of similar topics for the conference program.
◦ Provide a structure and conduit for sharing knowledge
◦ Increase awareness of current research
◦ Facilitate opportunities for collaborative research and
evaluation
◦ AEA provides organizational support
◦ AEA provides website support
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The dissolution of the CTSA Consortium and the
need for structures to sustain the Evaluation KFC
efforts
Need for a professional context for CTSA
evaluation
Need to connect with evaluators outside the
CTSAs who are interested in translational
research
AEA is a natural home for CTSA evaluators
◦ Since 2008 there have been approximately 56 paper
presentations and 13 panels (each 3-5 papers) and 6
other presentations on translational research evaluation
at AEA annual conference
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Early February, 2014 – group self-organizes
Mid February – March 12: TIG Proposal
written
March 12: proposal submitted to AEA Board
March 20: AEA Board approval of new TIG
March 24: Official notification of approval
March – October: Pre-organizing activities
October (at AEA Conference): First TIG
Business Meeting
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Angela Alexander, UCSD
Arthur E. Blank, Einstein and Montefiore
Gaurav Dave, UNC Chapel Hill
Deborah DiazGranados, VCU
Eileen M. Harwood, University of Minnesota
Janice A. Hogle, University of Wisconsin
Cathleen T. Kane, Weill Cornell
William M. Trochim, Weill Cornell
Donald B. Yarbrough, University of Iowa
The proposal had 33 signatories who expressed
an interest in joining such a TIG
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Topics of interest to members:
◦ Strategies to evaluate translational research
◦ Effective practices of translational research process evaluation
◦ Use of process evaluation, especially process markers in
evaluations of new translational research processes
◦ Translational research outcome monitoring, evaluation and use
◦ Techniques for measuring impacts of translational research
initiatives
◦ Common metrics and measures of translational research
◦ Development of evaluation frameworks for translational research
◦ Designing and implementing evaluation plans for translational
research
◦ Systems science approaches to evaluate translational research
efforts
◦ Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodologies for
translational research
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Potential Projects
◦ Innovative Methods/Best Practices for Translational
Research
◦ Translational Research Evaluation Strategies
◦ Definitions for Translational Research Evaluation
◦ Evaluation Policy in Translational Research
◦ Bibliometrics Assessment in Translational Research
Evaluation
◦ Focus groups in Translational Research Evaluation
◦ Distribution of WHO evaluation elements as
guidance for assessing and measuring value in
Translational Research Evaluation
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Quarter 1
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Quarter 2
◦ Host the 1st TIG call and identify Collaborative Project
Work Groups to develop projects in selected interest
areas
◦ Identify a work group to develop the TIG call for
proposals
◦ Receive reports from Collaborative Projects Work Groups
and trouble shoot design and analytical problems
(repeated quarterly).
◦ Conduct learning sessions on new methods through a
web conferencing structure on topics like data
visualization, social network analysis, bibliometrics, or
team science.
◦ Review the TIG call for proposals
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Quarter 3:
◦ Updates from the Collaborative Project Work Groups
◦ Posting of the call for TIG proposals
◦ Identify members willing to review TIG proposals
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Quarter 4:
◦ Review and selection of the TIG submissions.
◦ Updates from the Collaborative Project Work Groups
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In addition, there will be:
◦ Outreach to other relevant TIGs
◦ Outreach to others interested in translational
research evaluation
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TIG Business Meeting at annual conference in
October
Preparation for Review Process (November –
January)
◦ Develop criteria for reviews
◦ Form reviewer roster for conference proposals
◦ Elicit interest in special proposals on themes
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AEA issues Call for Proposals (January)
AEA forwards proposals to TIGs (March)
TIG reviews proposals and makes
recommendations to AEA (April – June)
Preparation for Conference (July-September)
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Leadership
◦ Inaugural Chair: William M. Trochim
◦ Program Chair: Arthur E. Blank
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Governance Needs
◦ Determine mission/vision
◦ Determine structure - leadership, subgroups,
projects)
◦ Determine processes – elections, meetings,
electronic communications
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We will explore how other TIGs organize
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Get the word out
Reach out beyond the CTSAs!
Get some volunteer self-organizing groups
◦ Membership – start recruiting
 If you are already an AEA member, log onto
www.eval.org and join the new TIG
 If you aren’t an AEA member, consider joining
◦ Communications – start a website for basic
information; develop materials about the TIG
◦ Programs or Projects
◦ Governance – start framing proposed rules for
business meeting