Background: One of the reasons for the slow and uncertain translation of research into practice is likely due to the emphasis in science on explanatory models and efficacy designs rather than more pragmatic approaches. Methods: Following a brief definition of what constitutes a pragmatic approach, I provide examples of pragmatic methods, measures,…

Beginning in 2002, The Chicago Community Trust embarked on an ambitious grant- making strategy to improve education outcomes primarily in the city of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. Known as The Education Initiative, this effort focused on three priority grant areas: literacy, professional development, and alternative models of schools. In…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for judging the adequacy of evaluation plans or, as they are commonly called, evaluation designs. The authors assume that using the procedures suggested in this paper to determine the adequacy of evaluation designs in advance of actually conducting evaluations will lead to better evaluation designs,…

Background: The philosophical underpinnings of evaluation guidelines set forth by a funding agency can sometimes seem inconsistent with that of the intervention. Purpose: Our purpose is to introduce questions pertaining to the contrast between the instructional program's underlying philosophical beliefs and assumptions and those underlying our…

Good evaluation requires that evaluation efforts themselves be evaluated. Many things can and often do go wrong in evaluation work. Accordingly, it is necessary to check evaluations for problems such as bias, technical error, administrative difficulties, and misuse. Such checks are needed both to improve ongoing evaluation activities and to assess…

The purpose of this article is to develop guidelines to assist practitioners and researchers in evaluating and developing rigorous case studies. The main concern in evaluating a case study is to accurately assess its quality and ultimately to offer clients social work interventions informed by the best available evidence. To assess the quality of…

The naturalistic research perspective assumes that reality is multiplistic, phenomenological, and context-dependent. This perspective legitimizes the subjective insights of the investigator by acknowledging the interdependence of facts and values as well as of the investigator and the object of investigation. Although discrepancies between…

This manual is designed to aid the user in measuring consumer satisfaction with vocational rehabilitation services. The manual contains materials which were used by the West Virginia Research and Training Center in a followup study. Step-by-step guidelines are provided for assessing the effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation services by…

As a step toward developing a standardized measure for evaluating the impact of child protective services, three indices were developed: the abuse index, the neglect index, and the sexual abuse index. Each is composed of physical indicators of the problem and social and behavioral indicators found to be statistically correlated with physical…

This is one of a series of eight short monographs intended to aid practicing educators in planning and conducting accountability programs in schools. This booklet discusses how to develop an experimental design appropriate to the objectives of a particular research or evaluation effort. Short sections focus in turn on the characteristics of a good…

The Guidelines for Educational Program Auditors in Utah were prepared to help educational program auditors (EPAs) deliver high quality services with a minimum of effort; they were intended to serve as a text for EPA training sessions, as a handbook and policy guide for EPAs and their assistants, and as a standard for judging the quality of EPA…

Intended for those who are concerned with evaluation but do not have an extensive background, this textbook helps students, scientists, evaluators, and administrators conduct and interpret evaluations. It deals with evaluations in all social action programs--health, education, and welfare. The focus is on basic procedures, rather than on theory,…

Presents general systems models (ballistic system, guided system, and adaptive system) and an evaluation matrix to help in examining training evaluation alternatives and in deciding what evaluation is appropriate. Includes some guidelines for conducting evaluation studies using four designs (control group, reversal, multiple baseline, and…

Recommendations for feasible and rigorous evaluation design formulated by a 1991 conference on the evaluation of comprehensive community interventions are summarized and illustrated through the example of a program for drug risk reduction. Implications of a multisite design with matched pairs randomized into intervention and comparison conditions…