This article addresses the debate on pre-evaluative choices of impact depictions and the forms of responses between applicants and funders. By adopting a reflexive perspective on the social impact of social sciences, this article explores researchers' vocabularies in the research proposals and mid-term reports of consortiums during the Strategic…

Strength and integrity issues are central to planning and interpreting evaluation studies. In the absence of actual data from previous studies, estimates of strength and integrity can often be derived in other ways. These issues of strength and integrity are described in the context of resource allocation in evaluation research. (Author/BS)

Education researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike are committed to identifying interventions that teach students more effectively. Increased emphasis on evaluation and accountability has increased desire for sound evaluations of these interventions; and at the same time, school-level data have become increasingly available. This article…

Asserts that graduate training, as well as the policies of journals and granting agencies, supports an approach to research that promotes scientific understanding but does not produce effective clinical treatment. (Author/JM)

Provides a detailed introduction to the variety of purposes for which evaluation research may be used and to the range of methods currently employed in the practice of that field. Uses specific examples, where appropriate, to provide concrete illustrations of both the goals of evaluation researchers and the methods used. (Author)

This report describes the technical assistance rendered to the NIE-sponsored R&D Utilization Program (R&DU) by the contractor working with the NIE staff, the Center for the Study of Evaluation, and the seven R&DU projects, to develop cross-project instrumentation, develop mutually acceptable plans for data collection and analysis, and…

The National Institute of Education (NIE) had commissioned an evaluation project of certain postsecondary programs for nontraditional students that would involve decision makers in the core of the design activity. This report discusses the conflict that emerged between NIE and the Center for Research and Development in Higher Education (CRDHE) and…

The purpose of phase 3 of Project IMPACT (a project to assess the impact of vocational education research and development on vocational education programs in Illinois) was to review, further conceptualize, and refine the impact assessment system for vocational education research and development efforts proposed during fiscal 1989. The following…

The seven articles of this special issue focus on theory and research related to survey methods and whether evaluators need information that is absent from the larger survey literature. These articles reflect the view that the considerations relating to good survey research apply also to using surveys in evaluation. (SLD)

A review of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which originated 20 years ago, is presented; and the original political, ideological and social science assumptions for the design of NAEP are examined. The report criticizes the founding principle as hampering NAEP's maximum utility and exploratory power. In examining the form of…

Based on Strasser and Deniston's guidelines (TM 504 251), the author discusses pre-planned and post-planned program evaluation decisions based on: (1) attitude of the organization being evaluated; (2) availability of resources; and (3) usefulness of the findings for programmatic decision making. (MH)

The implementation of research design in studies on substance abuse education is discussed in this meta-analysis. Findings indicate that the quality of research design is constrained by negative feedback from evaluation stakeholders. This finding is applied to an evaluation of the Here's Looking at You, 2000 drug education program currently…

The Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977 (YEDPA) authorized a range of research, evaluation, and demonstration activities to increase understanding of the employment problems of youth and to help determine the most effective policies and programs to address these problems. Although many programs, such as the War on Poverty and…

This report is a summary and review of a study on the effects of introducing an independent learning system in low socioeconomic (SES) schools. The report is organized into five sections. The first provides background information on the independent learning system, the research design and student variables of interest. The second section describes…

Although the primary purpose of this report is to present prototypical procedures for conducting two-year college vocational follow-up studies, it also describes the implementation and results of using these procedures in the evaluation of the electronics, computer science, and tool and manufacturing programs at Los Angeles Pierce College. After…