 Evaluation = process of judging the merit

or worth of something
 Research = application of scientific
methods to answer questions
 Research Evaluation

Evaluation Research
 Sometimes called program evaluation

 refers to a research purpose rather than a

specific method.

 appropriate whenever some social intervention

occurs.
› Social intervention is an action taken within a
social context for the purpose of producing
some intended result.

 Purpose  evaluate the impact of social

interventions
 Is a form of applied research

 Methods  surveys and experiments can be

used in evaluation research.

 In recent years, the field of evaluation research

has become an increasingly popular and active
research specialty, as reflected in textbooks,
courses, and projects.
Why
 Problem : What is the purpose of the
intervention to be evaluated?
 This question often produces vague results.
 A common problem is measuring the
“unmeasurable.”
 Evaluation research is a matter of finding out
whether something is there or not there,
whether something happened or did not
happen.
 To conduct evaluation research, we must be
able to operationalize, observe, and measure.
 If a social program is intended to
accomplish something, we must be able to
measure that something.
 It is essential to achieve agreements on
definitions in advance.
 New evaluation :
› If the study addresses something that’s
never been measured before, the choice is
easy—new measures.

 Existing evaluation :
› If the study addresses something that
others have tried to measure, the
researcher will need to evaluate the
relative worth of various existing
measurement devices in terms of her or his
specific research situations and purpose.
 NEW MEASURES EXISTING
MEASURES
 Offer greater relevance  Creating good measures takes

 Offer greater validity time and energy

 Greater scientific significance

 Known degrees of validity and

reliability
 It can involve any of several research
designs :

 Experimental designs
 Quasi-experimental designs
 Qualitative evaluations
 Because the purpose of evaluation research is to
determine the success or failure of social
interventions, you might think it reasonable that a
program would automatically be continued or
terminated based on the results of the research.

 It’s not that simple.

 Other factors intrude on the assessment of

evaluation research results, sometimes blatantly
and sometimes subtly.
 3 important reasons why the implications of the
evaluation research results are not always put into
practice