Practice-Focused Research Ch.1

critical thinking

natural skeptics about how well an evaluation is conducted, whether it is someone else’s evaluation or one’s own. Critical thinkers do not automatically assume that what they read in a report is correct before considering how it was determined and sometimes considering alternative possibilities.

effectiveness

refers to interventions being successful in bringing about the expected changes in clients’ lives.

efficiency

refers to being careful to channel available resources to the intended target problem or concern without any waste.

effort

refers to what staff members, volunteers, and administrators put into a program or practice area when implementing an intervention.

evidence-based intervention

interventions that have been implemented before with documented scientific evidence of their effectiveness.

implementation stage

when evaluations are introduced to monitor how well the intervention is being implemented and involves implementing the chosen intervention

logic model

an organizing framework that many evaluators use to analyze both programs and practice.

outcome stage

comes once the clients have completed the intervention. At this point the evaluators must decide whether the clients have succeeded in reaching the client outcomes identified in the planning stage

planning stage

identify the prospective clients, define and develop the intervention, and craft measures of the client outcomes that the intervention is intended to help them reach.

political processes

political issues almost always come into play, whether explicitly or implicitly. For example, political processes might be involved in any of the following types of questions that agency administrators, in particular, might raise.

practice

a subunit of a program that provides a set of interventions by one worker to one client system

program

is a subunit of a social agency that provides clients with a set of goods and/or services with common goals.

program evaluation

a study of a social program that uses the principles and methods of scientific research.

quality

refers to how well the program or practice interventions are delivered or implemented.

relevance

Relevance of the intervention to the clients’ needs and the larger social problems that clients are experiencing

scientific research methods

Evaluation activities are expected to be scientific and consider using a wide range of research methodologies (e.g., Dudley, 2011). Scientific research has long-standing values and principles that distinguish it from other types of information gathering. Many of these principles are evident in evaluations.

seven evaluation steps

Step 1: Identify the Problem or Concern to Be Evaluated.

Step 2: Identify and Explore Ways to Involve Stakeholders.

Step 3: Determine the Purpose of the Evaluation.

Step 4: Plan the Evaluation.

Step 5: Implement the Evaluation.

Step 6: Prepare a Written or Oral Report.

Step 7: Disseminate the Findings.

stages of program and practice development

planning stage, implementation stage, outcome stage

stakeholders

stakeholders typically include groups with widely varying perspectives such as clients, regulatory agencies, and the agency administration overseeing the intervention, anyone who places value on the outcome