Abstract
Research and literature on program evaluation must attend to problems of application, which can have major effect on the outcome. Increasing numbers of innovative, multifaceted programs operating in complex settings are presenting for evaluation. Evaluation process must become flexible, creative, and multifaceted in order to produce valid and comprehensive results, and to meet the needs of this field. Evaluators and evaluation, the evaluated program, and the environment become a mutually interacting system in the process of evaluation. Evaluation goals and roles must be conceptualized, agreed upon, sanctioned, and appropriately implemented or conflict and ineffectiveness will result. Three models of evaluation emerge: objective and independent, objective but serving one interest, and pseudo-scientific public relations. Evaluation of an interdisciplinary mental health education program illustrates these issues. Evaluation technology, process, and roles must all be attended to or the weak link undermines the rest.