With today's technology, Extension professionals have a variety of tools available for program evaluation. This article describes an innovative platform called VoiceThread that has been used in many classrooms but also is useful for conducting virtual focus group research. I explain how this tool can be used to collect qualitative participant…

This study attempts to define the contradiction between cooperative learning, which has an important place in science education, and the relative evaluation system. The fixation of the situation which was done with the data obtained from the literature also has been supported with a semi-structured interview study conducted with eighteen science…

The trend in school psychology services is a shift from an emphasis on an assessment-based paradigm to one of consultation problem-solving and behavioral intervention. A critical component of consultation-derived interventions and behavior change is "treatment integrity." Treatment integrity (or fidelity) refers to the extent to which an…

Despite the best of intentions, qualitative researchers can be faced, in some circumstances, with having to make meaning from thin, or less than optimal, data. Using a real study as context, the authors describe the ways that they made sense of their thin data on teachers' perceptions of a large-scale evaluation instrument. They propose a…

Although researchers in higher education propose alternatives to traditional approaches to assessment, traditional methods are commonly used in college or university science courses. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility and validity of Prospective Science Teachers' (PSTs) concept maps as authentic assessment tools in a…

Considered are two commonly used techniques, the interview and word association techniques. Highlighted is a third technique called the repertory grid. This third technique can be used to interpret students' knowledge based on an explicit, psychological theory of human behavior. (Author/CW)

Teacher selection is one of the most important managerial decisions made by school administrators. A laboratory study was performed to assess the impact of interpersonal performance styles on decisions made by administrators in interview situations. Research methodology and results are discussed. (DF)

A study of 24 videotaped interviews with sexually abused children (ages 4-12) investigated the effectiveness of using anatomically correct dolls during the interview process. Results found that when children were interviewed without dolls they gave longer and more detailed responses, suggesting that use of the dolls inhibited rather than…

While supervisory research focuses on trainee performance in counseling situations as the primary outcome criterion, few instruments have been developed for evaluating behavior in the supervision interview. To develop a scale that reflects critical factors in the supervisory relationship, the Supervisor Personal Reaction Scale (SPRS) and the…

Seven papers are presented, which are designed to introduce evaluators and other consultants to the complex realities of the changing world of business and industry. Topics include how the practice of evaluation is changing in organizations in transition, and evaluation from the perspective of its role in changing organizations. (SLD)

An optimal evaluation system should have five features if it is to both stimulate academic work and lead to fair decisions: clear expectations, feedback on performance, formative evaluation, summative evaluation, and differential rewards. Women and minorities were asked about their experiences in relation to these features. None had received…

The Service Delivery Assessment (SDA) model is a human services evaluation tool which offers a viable alternative to more traditional approaches and is appropriate for small local evaluations as well as large national studies. There are five phases to an SDA study: assignment, pre-assessment, design, analysis, and communication of the findings.…

This study developed an experimental analysis procedure based on the results of a descriptive assessment, involving five parents and their children with problem behaviors. The experimental analysis required only four sessions to demonstrate a function for each subject's problem behaviors. Interventions involving functional communication training…

The methodological issue of qualitative versus quantitative research is addressed, and the argumentation of research using interview methods for research is explored. Warrants of the type that are used in arguments generating conclusions from interview data are included. (KR)

The aim of this book is to assist people who use interviewing as a means of gathering information. It is a practical guide to more effective techniques and provides methods relevant to a variety of contexts. After a review of the psychological bases of interviewing, the types of interview are discussed as follows: (1) personal data reporting; (2)…