When and how to survey potential respondents is often determined by budgetary and external constraints, but choice of survey modality may have enormous implications for data quality. Different survey modalities may be differentially susceptible to measurement error attributable to interviewer assignment, known as interviewer effects. In this…

New, simple methods for applying benefit-cost analysis in situations where the variables are nonmonetary are discussed. The approach involves handling nonmonetary variables by converting the problems into questions regarding whether a nonmonetary return is worth more or less than a given dollar cost. The article codifies what good decision makers…

Until the past few years, our nation's approach to designing federal programs for preschool-age children lacked coherence and paid little attention to what had worked (and not worked) in the past. In this article, the authors propose that credible information useful for designing effective programs will require the ongoing, systematic development…

This article reviews factorial surveys and highlights their utility in designing intervention programs. It then describes two instances in which factorial surveys were used to develop HIV/AIDS-related interventions. It is concluded that factorial surveys have great potential for designing intervention programs. (SLD)

This article describes how microsimulation analysis was used to help design a social experiment in two Canadian provinces. The microsimulation was used to choose among alternative program models, to refine the selected model, and to project costs for the Canadian government's program of financial incentives for leaving welfare. (SLD)

Determining which program evaluations in developing countries are appropriate/feasible for randomized experiments to plan and evaluate social programs is discussed. Five threshold conditions are defined. Reviews of experiments from Barbados, China, Colombia, Kenya, Israel, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Taiwan, and the United States illustrate the issues…

A survey of 43 high school principals about the usefulness of feedback reports generated through the evaluation of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Community Health Promotion Grants Program suggests that principals found the reports very valuable in a number of ways, especially in designing and implementing programs. (SLD)

An expanded model of treatment evaluation is presented, and connections to stress and coping theory are examined. Examples are taken from a research program on the long-term outcomes of alcoholism and depression. Implications for assessment and diagnosis, program design and improvement, and stress and coping theory are explored. (SLD)