Showing papers in "Evaluation and Program Planning in 1980"

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw upon the experience of a randomized field experiment to point out the hazards of the assumption that program clients uniformly receive the services purportedly available, and find marked differences among clients in the amount of actual service received during participation in the program evaluated.

TL;DR: A quantitative model is offered to describe the relationship between global scale ratings and multidimensional facets influencing the global ratings, since the major use of a global scale is as an integrating construct.

TL;DR: The authors argue that part of the current debate over qualitative and quantitative methods is not centered on productive issues and so is not being argued in as logical a fashion as it should be, which is a response to the attacks on paradigmatic perspectives made by Reichardt and Cook in their edited book Qalitative and Quantitative Methods in Evaluation Research.

TL;DR: In this article, it is suggested that the present low level of utilization of evaluation findings is traceable in part to their failure to address directly the information needs of a clearly specified decision maker.

TL;DR: The philosophical and psychological foundations of this resistance are explored and types and loci of resistance are outlined and Suggestions for coping strategies are discussed.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a conceptual minimalist position which requires only three basic definitions, and leaves, as far as possible, all remaining issues open to empirical investigation, and propose to redirect attention to the identification of the various individuals and groups with an interest in system performance, and to the investigation of those items of system relevant information (their "performance measure sets" which do, in fact, change their evaluations of how well the system is performing.

TL;DR: This paper argued that qualitative and quantitative methods are not inevitably linked to different "paradigms" and that allegiance to a particular paradigm does not force the evaluator into a choice between mutually exclusive quantitative and qualitative methods.

TL;DR: Alignment of evaluation research with regulatory bodies with authority to suspend public program expenditures is advocated and strategies for increasing evaluation research leverage are reviewed.

TL;DR: The experiences over the past eight years of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in employing evaluation and related social research procedures in the planning and implementation of a major philanthropic effort to improve the health and medical care of Americans are reviewed.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a contingency model of evaluation competencies, which can usefully serve as a heuristic or organizing mechanism for assessing evaluation contexts and orienting professional evaluators.

TL;DR: This paper identifies various costcontainment strategies and synthesizes research findings that may be helpful in evaluating their effectiveness and demonstrates the complexity of the issues and relationships that must be confronted and understood in cost containment.

TL;DR: The major findings were that directors were generally quite satisfied both with the available level of information intended to help them make decisions, and with their ability to make good, even optimal, decisions.

TL;DR: Kirkhart as discussed by the authors argued that although program decisions must ultimately be based on judgment regardless of whether evaluation is conducted, good evaluation can provide information that can contribute to the decision making process.

TL;DR: In this article, a number of evaluation approaches and issues are explored in the context of an illustrative policy example, that of the legislative changes in minimum legal drinking age in the state of Michigan.

TL;DR: In this paper, an evaluation methodology based on problem solving techniques is proposed for defining and analyzing problems which impair program performance. But the model is not suitable for the case where the information reported to decision makers may be incomplete, inconclusive and of limited utility in the decision-making process.

TL;DR: In this article, a case study is presented from the evaluation of LEAA's Community Anti-Crime Program, in which a decision analysis based on a decision-theoretic evaluation model influenced a programmatic decision which arose during the conduct of the evaluation.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present perspectives on these issues from the orientation of quality of life research and propose that these approaches have relevance for program evaluation work, which is relevant for social indicators and program evaluation research.

TL;DR: The resources indentified are mainly intended for use by individuals conducting evaluation research studies, and for those engaging in training and research on program evaluation.

TL;DR: In this article, a different unit of analysis is proposed, one which takes into account the role of educational institutions in assisting in the reproduction of both cultural and economic inequality, and criteria for deciding on gradual refinement, based on a strategy of non-reformist reforms, are suggested.

TL;DR: It was found by an inexpensive methodology that opinions about the importance of various services, opinion about the potential acceptance of services, services provided, and the total need for services are interrelated.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the use of a simulation game in the evaluation of a sex education program, which is designed to measure decision-making about contraceptive use and sexuality among young people.

TL;DR: An overview of the structure of evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare provides a general description of the Department's evaluation activities.