The traditional view that an activity's comparative impact on collective welfare ought to guide resource allocation is refuted. A paradigm of a multisystem society with the non-fungibility of investment resources an essential issue in project appraisal is presented. (SLD)

Activities during the initial 18-month cycle of the Demand and Resource Evaluation (DARE) Program of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company (Washington State) are described. The role of evaluation in public utility planning is discussed. Cooperation, communication, and consensus among utility planning staff are concluded to be vital. (SLD)

A framework is described for economic evaluation of substance abuse interventions, describing addiction and treatment dynamics and highlighting therapeutic and economic endpoints. Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses are discussed. In conjunction with a decision-tree model, economic evaluation is presented as a tool for informed resource…

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)

Priority setting is examined from the perspective of planning practitioners operating in a major federal regulatory agency. Causes of ambivalence in setting priorities are considered, and ways to reduce ambivalence are suggested. Three models are proposed for setting priorities in the public sector. (SLD)

Based on Strasser and Deniston's guidelines (TM 504 251), the author discusses pre-planned and post-planned program evaluation decisions based on: (1) attitude of the organization being evaluated; (2) availability of resources; and (3) usefulness of the findings for programmatic decision making. (MH)

Articles in this special issue use survey data to provide policymakers with validated indirect needs assessment models that will help them obtain information about populations requiring different levels and types of mental health services. The articles provide the basis for predictive needs assessment and explanatory models of resource allocation.…

A synthetic method of estimating relative annual prevalence of severely mentally disabled (SMD) adults across Ohio's mental health board areas was evaluated. Indirect evidence of accuracy for the method, which relies on local catchment area data and local census data, is provided by comparison with actual SMD adult counts in federal programs. (SLD)

The development and validation of a weighted index capable of discriminating among competing learner needs to allow equitable resource allocation are described. Using the Delphi technique, this national study was concerned with the needs of Australia's school-age population with non-English-speaking backgrounds. (TJH)