The determinants of sentencing are of much interest in criminal justice and legal research. Understanding the determinants of sentencing decisions is important for ensuring transparent, consistent, and justifiable sentencing practice that adheres to the goals of sentencing, such as the punishment, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation of…

Comments on the delayed treatment design are offered as an amendment to the Heath et al. discussion by pointing out two important assumptions of their recommended design, and tracing through implications of those assumptions for the interpretation of treatment effects. (Author/PN)

The impact of a legal reform on child abuse reporting in the District of Columbia is evaluated. Results suggest that reporting legislation may be useful in reform efforts by extending the requirements to new groups and precipitating efforts to implement legal requirements of those already required to report. (Author/GK)

Studied the analytic problems associated with a design in which one identifiable group is allocated to each treatment condition and members of these groups are measured to assess the intervention. Results from a simulation study underscore the analytic problems associated with these quasi-experimental or group-randomized designs. (SLD)

Introduces an new approach for measuring the impact of whole school reforms. The approach, based on "short" interrupted time-series analysis, is explained, its statistical procedures are outlined, and how it was used in the evaluation of a major whole-school reform, Accelerated Schools is described (H. Bloom and others, 2001). (SLD)

Changes made in 1981 to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act were evaluated. Multiple quasi-experimental designs (interrupted time series, non-equivalent comparison groups, and simple pre-post designs) used to address evaluation questions illustrate the issues faced by evaluators in…

A problem for program evaluators involves a search for ways to maximize internal validity and inferential power of research designs while being able to assess long-term effects of social programs. A multimethodological research strategy combining a delayed control group true experiment with a multiple time series and switching replications design…

A simple way to assess the statistical power of experimental designs, based on the concept of a minimum detectable effect, is described. How to compute minimum detectable effects and how to apply the method of assessment of alternative experimental designs are illustrated. (SLD)

Four aspects of the relationship between auditing and evaluation in their approaches to program assessment are examined: (1) their different origins; (2) the definitions and purposes of both, and the questions they seek to answer; (3) contrasting viewpoints and emphases of auditors and evaluators; and (4) commonalities of interest and potential…

The authors demonstrate how exponential smoothing can play a role in the identification of the intervention component of an interrupted time-series design model that is analogous to the role that the sample autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions serve in the identification of the noise portion of such a model. (Author/BW)

Factors that influence the sample size necessary for longitudinal evaluations include the nature of the evaluation questions, nature of available comparison groups, consistency of the treatment in different sites, effect size, attrition rate, significance level for statistical tests, and statistical power. (Author/GDC)

A method is presented that allows multivariate comparability while making only minimal restrictions on randomization. This procedure is demonstrated in the context of assigning 63 aggregated units (schools) to 28 experimental and control conditions. Good comparability of groups for all primary main effects and interactions was verified for 15…

The use of theoretical models in impact assessment can heighten the power of experimental designs and compensate for some deficiencies of quasi-experimental designs. Theoretical models of implementation processes are examined, arguing that these processes are a major obstacle to fully effective programs. (Author/CM)

The choice between experimental research or process-oriented oriented research as the only valid paradigm of evaluation research is rejected. It is argued that there is a middle ground. Suggestions are made for mixing the two approaches to suit particular research settings. (Author/GK)

Two methods for dividing an interrupted time-series study between baseline and experimental phases when study resources are limited are compared. In fixed designs, the baseline duration is predetermined. In flexible designs the baseline duration is contingent on remaining resources and the match of results to prior expectations of the evaluator.…