Stufflebeam(2001b), too, analyzed evaluation theories or, what he, like us,
calls "approaches." His work was designed to reduce the burgeoning numbers of
evaluation theories and to identify those with the greatest potential. He attempted
to reduce the numbers of theories to those that are most useful by conducting an
intensive study of 20 different evaluation approaches using some key descriptors
to summarize each approach. He then used the Standards developed by the Joint
Committee to judge nine approaches in more detail. His assessments of the various
methods were also influenced by the extent to which each approach addresses
what he sees as "evaluation's fundamental requirement to assess a program's
merit or worth’,(Stufflebeam, 2001b,p.42).