In web surveys, no interviewer is present to clarify question comprehension problems, which can be particularly prevalent among respondents with low literacy skills. Although plain language is used in various contexts to improve text comprehensibility, its use in social science questionnaires has not been investigated to date. Using a…

The reason for conducting the present case study was the problems the researchers encountered during data collection for another research project (Primary Study) entitled "The effects of virtual versus traditional flipped classes on EFL learners' grammar knowledge, self-regulation, and autonomy." Two online questionnaires were…

The world has experienced rapid changes, leading to pressing issues such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and resource depletion. As a transdisciplinary field, evaluation has emerged as a crucial tool in addressing these challenges and promoting systemic change. However, concerns have been raised regarding the field's capacity to…

While regression discontinuity has usually been applied retrospectively to secondary data, it is even more attractive when applied prospectively. In a prospective design, data collection can be focused on cases near the discontinuity, thereby improving internal validity and substantially increasing precision. Furthermore, such prospective…

This study is a content analysis of selected federally funded leadership preparation program evaluation proposals for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 School Leadership Program grants. The United States Department of Education (USDE) began awarding funding in 2002 to develop and implement preparation programs for aspiring and current assistant principals…

The commentaries on my article contain a number of points with which I disagree but also several with which I agree. For example, I continue to believe that the existence of many cases in which between-person variability does not increase with age indicates that greater variance with increased age is not inevitable among healthy individuals up to…

Background: Those involved in school health education programs generally believe that health-education programs can play an important role in helping young people make positive health decisions. Thus, it is to document the effects of such programs through rigorous evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals. Methods: This paper helps the…

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, the second in the kit, provides advice about planning an evaluation--from deciding on the major questions the evaluation is intended to address, through the general approach--and identifying the principal…

This new edition is the result of an extensive review of the standards as defined in 1981. Taken as a set, the 30 current standards provide a working philosophy for evaluation. They define the Joint Committee on Standards for Education Evaluation's conception of the principles that should guide and govern program evaluation efforts, and they offer…

Presents a framework to describe typical constraints that program evaluators face. The framework encompasses the usual evaluation costs and other factors that impede data collection or the implementation of strong evaluation designs. These are characterized as internal/substantive or external/political. (SLD)

This paper outlines purposes of program evaluation and provides practical information to help individuals from a wide spectrum of backgrounds use evaluation to move their program ahead in a purposeful manner. Wisely moving ahead requires an assessment of an organization's past and present as well as an examination of its assumptions about the…

This chapter discusses current methods of formative evaluation and suggests that these methods themselves need to be subjected to more critical research and evaluation in order to provide them with a more scientific base. Topics addressed include problems and methods associated with data gathering, evaluation designs, number of subjects available,…

Discusses several data collection procedures involved in four manageable writing classroom evaluation measures. (MG)

This chapter addresses the problems encountered in the formative evaluation of instructional development projects and the instructional development process. Three types of formative evaluation--component, convergent, and contextual--are distinguished, and the consequences of using the wrong type of evaluation in a particular situation or project…

School-linked services are one program approach seeking to address concerns about fragmented and duplicative services by offering the school site as a single point of entry. Most of these programs display a holistic approach to children, joint planning, shared service delivery, and collaboration or coordination. Determining how school-linked…