NCJ Number
76128
Date Published
1980
Length
179 pages
Annotation
This document describes an approach to social program evaluation developed from decision analysis called Multiattribute Utility Technology (MAUT) and is designed for use by evaluators.
Abstract
The nature of evaluation, and the relationship of MAUT to other evaluation methods are discussed. The document presents a detailed example of a MAUT evaluation which is designed to provide a stand-alone description of the technique. It also discusses how to identify relevant stakeholders in any program and how to elicit from them the value attributes to be used in the evaluation. The importance of recognizing the organization and groups who might have generated the program as well as the administrators of the program and its clients is emphasized. In addition, major techniques to elicit important weights from stakeholders are illustrated with examples from actual evaluations. Additional chapters describe and illustrate how location measures for each value attribute are determined for each of the options or entities being evaluated and how importance weights and location measures are combined to form an aggregate composite reflecting the overall program evaluation. The final section describes how the MAUT process itself is analyzed through a sensitivity assessment of evaluation conclusions. Tabular data, graphs, and charts are included. Appendixes describe computer programs which can be keyed into a hand-held calculator to provide MAUT computations. (Author abstract modified)