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Special Issue: Credible and Actionable Evidence in Extension Practice

Editors' Introduction to This Special Issue

This issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension focuses on both of these questions and provides readers with in-depth exposure to the meaning of credible and actionable evidence of program effectiveness and quality and how it can be addressed within an organization. The ten articles in this issue cover the basics of what credible and actionable evidence is; how such evidence can be identified, measured, and collected; how credible and actionable evidence can differ depending on different levels of an organization and the stakeholders wanting the evidence; how organizations can build capacity to collect credible and actionable evidence; and how this evidence can best be presented to program stakeholders.

The context in which these articles are presented is the Cooperative Extension System, at the national, state, and local levels of that system. However, the information in these articles can be just as valuable for any agency or organization that has to deal with accountability.