Evaluation Research: Determining the Impact of Social Interventions
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Presentation Transcript
Chapter 12 Evaluation Research
Chapter Outline • Topics Appropriate To Evaluation Research • Formulating the Problem • Types of Evaluation Research Designs • The Social Context • Social Indicators Research
Evaluation Research • Appropriate for any study of planned or actual social intervention. • Goal is to determine whether a social intervention has produced the intended result. • Results are not always well received.
Types of Measurement in Evaluation Research • Outcome (response variable) • Experimental Context - aspects of the context of an experiment that might affect the experiment. • Experimental Stimulus (interventions) • Population - demographic variables as well as variables defining the population.
Evaluation Research Designs • Experimental designs • Quasi-experimental designs • Time-series design • Nonequivalent control groups • Multiple Time-Series designs • Qualitative evaluations
Ethical Issues • Social interventions being evaluated may raise ethical issues. • Evaluation research may be a mask for unethical behavior.
Why Results Are Ignored • Implications may not be presented in a way that nonresearchers can understand. • Results sometimes contradict deeply held beliefs. • Vested interest in a program.
Social Indicators Research • Provides an understanding of broader social processes. • Researchers are developing more refined indicators. • Research is being devoted to discovering the relationships among variables within whole societies.