Background: A literature search found five empirical studies of psychological treatment for adults with ADHD, out of 1,419 articles on ADHD in adults. Practice guidelines to date all recommend multimodal intervention, given that a significant number of patients cannot tolerate, do not respond to, or fail to reach optimal outcomes with medication…

Using a retrospective, quasiexperimental design, this study evaluates Minnesota's Challenge Incarceration Program (CIP), examining whether it has lowered recidivism and saved money. In addition to utilizing a lengthy follow-up period and multiple measures of recidivism and participation, a multistage sampling design was employed to create a…

Examined Type I error rates and power for four tests for treatment control studies in which a larger treatment mean may be accompanied by a larger treatment variance and examined these aspects of the independent samples "t" test and the Welch test. Evaluated each test and suggested conditions for the use of each approach. (SLD)

This paper reviews research based on the psychological autopsy (PA) method applied to the study of suicide. It evidences the presence of a number of methodological problems. Shortcomings concern sampling biases in the selection of control subjects, confounding influences of extraneous variables, and reliability of the assessment instruments. The…

Two estimators of effect size that are based on the sample quartiles are proposed and studied. One is for the situation where a treatment effect is evaluated against a control group, and the other is for a situation in which two parallel treatments are compared. Both are illustrated and evaluated. (SLD)

Evidence is presented that strengthens the argument against comparison group research strategies. Results from a study of youth attitudes related to the California Conservation Corps involving 528 participants and 668 comparisons indicate that the comparison group may not adequately represent the nontreatment state. (SLD)

Suggestions, based on the experience of researchers at Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Associated Universities (ORAU), are offered on how evaluations in which true experimental designs are not possible can be designed for meaningful comparison. The ORAU conducts evaluation and assessment studies of educational programs intended to explore some aspect of the…

Problems with conducting randomized field experiments in education are explored. Focus is on problems encountered while evaluating a group of dropout prevention projects. Project planners were asked to manipulate the subject eligibility criteria until they identified as eligible three to four times as many students as they could serve. They were…

A study explored which nonexperimental comparison group methods provide the most accurate estimates of the impacts of mandatory welfare-to-work programs and whether the best methods work well enough to substitute for random assignment experiments. Findings were compared for nonexperimental comparison groups and statistical adjustment procedures…