Adrienne Adams, Ph.D.

 

Email: adamsadr@msu.edu

Area of Interest

Participatory evaluation methods; evaluation in non-profit human service organizations; evaluation capacity building; evaluation use

Faculty Information

Dr. Adrienne Adams is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Program Evaluation M.A. & Certificate Programs. She holds a Ph.D. in community psychology. Over the past 15 years, she has evaluated local, state, and national domestic violence and sexual assault victim service programs. Dr. Adams uses participatory evaluation methods to build evaluation capacity and foster organizational learning. For instance, she developed the "Expectations to Change" (E2C) process, a participatory method that provides evaluation stakeholders with the opportunity to engage with evaluation data, develop their own interpretations, generate recommendations, and plan tangible action steps for creating change within their organization. She also trains other evaluators to use the E2C process with their clients. She serves on the Michigan Association for Evaluation board, is an American Evaluation Association member, and has published in the American Journal of Evaluation.

Featured Projects and Reports

• Adams, A. E., Nnawulezi, N. A., & Vandenber, L. (2015). “Expectations to Change” (E2C): A Participatory Method for Facilitating Stakeholder Engagement With Evaluation Findings. American Journal of Evaluation, 36(2), 243-255.
• Creating Multi-media Evaluation Reports (2013). AEA 365: Tip-a-day. 
• Campbell, R., Adams, A. E., & Patterson, D. (2008). Methodological challenges of collecting evaluation data from traumatized clients/consumers: A comparison of three methods. American Journal of Evaluation, 29, 369-381.