Chapter 12

Evaluation Research
Chapter Outline

 Topics Appropriate To Evaluation Research

 Formulating the Problem
 Types of Evaluation Research Designs
 The Social Context
 Social Indicators Research
Evaluation Research

 Appropriate for any study of planned or actual

social intervention.
 Goal is to determine whether a social
intervention has produced the intended result.
 Results are not always well received.
Types of Measurement in
Evaluation Research

 Outcome (response variable)

 Experimental Context - aspects of the context
of an experiment that might affect the
experiment.
 Experimental Stimulus (interventions)
 Population - demographic variables as well as
variables defining the population.
Evaluation Research Designs

 Experimental designs
 Quasi-experimental designs
– Time-series design
– Nonequivalent control groups
– Multiple Time-Series designs
 Qualitative evaluations
Ethical Issues

 Social interventions being evaluated may raise

ethical issues.
 Evaluation research may be a mask for
unethical behavior.
Why Results Are Ignored

 Implications may not be presented in a way

that nonresearchers can understand.
 Results sometimes contradict deeply held
beliefs.
 Vested interest in a program.
Social Indicators Research

 Provides an understanding of broader social

processes.
 Researchers are developing more refined
indicators.
 Research is being devoted to discovering the
relationships among variables within whole
societies.