This article uses propensity scores to identify subgroups of individuals most likely to experience a reduction in cash benefits because of sanctions in some of the programs that make up the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies. It extends program evaluation methodology by using propensity scoring to identify the subgroups of…

The authors developed a one-credit freshman-level course designed to enhance psychological critical thinking. They based the new curriculum on Stanovich's (2004) text, with an emphasis on active learning and critically evaluating claims by applying scientific concepts. To assess the effectiveness of this course, they used a pretest-posttest design…

In order to investigate the effect of reinforcing subject responses to Stanford-Binet test items, regardless of whether such responses were correct or not, one-half of a sample of Head Start children were administered a standard Stanford-Binet test and the other half were administered the same test with the modification that responses were…

This study was designed to answer two questions: (1) Is the systematic desensitization of test anxiety effective with secondary school students?; (2) Is relaxation per se as useful a technique as systematic desensitization? High test anxious secondary-school students were assigned to one of two experimental conditions, desensitization or…

The comprehension of aurally-presented narrative passages by fourth-grade children as a function of listening rate and performance on 11 predictor variables was investigated. The predictor tests included: PPVT, Otis Intelligence Test, MAT, Listening Comprehension, Digit Span, Coding, Auditory Attention Span, Clerical Speed, Perceptual Speed,…

Kindergarten children were randomly assigned: free play, make-believe, imitation, and control. Given an alternate-uses test (paper towel, match box, paper clip, and screwdriver), free play and make-believe subjects produced significantly more nonstandard responses for paper clip than control subjects and make-believe subjects more than free play…

Experiments where participants are randomly assigned into experimental and control groups are often regarded as the ideal approach to evaluation of labor force policies. This paper shows that such design can yield misleading and incomplete information. It proposes alternate designs that permit estimation of marginal as well as average program…

An examination of the scientific basis of both control group designs and comparative designs in outcome research reveals that comparative designs generally have fewer threats to validity and provide a more efficient means of control for nonspecific treatment factors suggesting that comparative studies warrant a larger role in the study of…

This booklet contains questions and answers about random assignment in program evaluation and intervention research. The main purpose of program evaluation research in education is to determine whether programs help the students they are designed to serve and whether new ideas for education programs still under development are worthy of extension…

Control subjects completed Book IV of the Edwards Personality Inventory under instructions to be honest while experimental subjects were instructed to fake so as to make an excellent impression while also concealing their faking. Differences between group means were small. (Author/EK)

The effects of in-service training programs on their participants are evaluated. (CK)

The relationship between children's social adjustment and their ability to read is discussed. (CK)

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…

Rationale and procedures for conducting process analysis in evaluation research are discussed. Two different procedures for estimating mediation are discussed, as well as procedures for examining whether a treatment exerts its effects, in part, by altering mediating process that produces outcome. Benefits of process analysis in evaluation research…

CUTOFF is a program to identify the most efficient classification prediction cutting score. It ranks the scores of a criterion and a comparison group and organizes them into cumulative frequency tables allowing for immediate display of an index of correct identifications associated with each score. (Author/JKS)