School program evaluation researchers face a set of overlapping questions concerning our roles in the field: For the sake of "the data" and in quest of "the truth," am I a shrewd researcher before all else? For the sake of community-building and establishing respectful, reciprocal relationships with my school partners, am I first a gracious school…

Describes problems in implementing placebo controls in psychotherapy including the difficulty of ensuring that therapists and their patients will view both the experimental and placebo treatments as comparably credible. Considers six research issues stemming from the definitional requirement that the placebo control for the critical and specific…

An examination of the scientific basis of both control group designs and comparative designs in outcome research reveals that comparative designs generally have fewer threats to validity and provide a more efficient means of control for nonspecific treatment factors suggesting that comparative studies warrant a larger role in the study of…

Is it ethical to select clients at random for a beneficial social service, then deny the benefits to a control group for the sake of science? Participation of control groups in planning, implementation and evaluation of social programs may resolve ethical issues. (Author/CP)

A solution to the problem of specification error due to excluded variables in statistical models of treatment effects in nonrandomized (nonequivalent) control group designs is presented. It involves longitudinal observation with at least two pretests. A maximum likelihood estimation program such as LISREL may provide reasonable estimates of…