NCJ Number
67081
Date Published
1980
Length
381 pages
Annotation
COMBINING THE THEORETICAL WITH THE PRACTICAL, THIS BOOK EXAMINES BOTH HOW AND WHY TO CONDUCT EVALUATIONS, REVIEWS EVALUATION RESEARCH HISTORY, AND PRESENTS A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH MODEL.
Abstract
THIS UTILIZATION-FOCUSED MODEL IS DERIVED FROM MANY SOURCES, INCLUDING THE STUDY OF THE UTILIZATION OF FEDERAL EVALUATION RESEARCH CONDUCTED THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA'S NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING PROGRAM IN EVALUATION. THE BOOK SUGGESTS THAT A PARADIGM OF CHOICES IS REPLACING THE DEBATE AND COMPETITION BETWEEN THE QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT PARADIGMS AND THAT TODAY'S EVALUATOR MUST MATCH RESEARCH METHODS TO PARTICULAR QUESTIONS AND TO DECISIONMAKERS' NEEDS. THIS NEW 'ACTIVE-REACTIVE-ADAPTIVE' EVALUATOR ROLE REQUIRES A LARGE REPERTOIRE OF RESEARCH METHODS AND TECHNIQUES. THE EMPHASIS THROUGHOUT THE TEXT IS ON STRATEGIES FOR GENERATING VALID, USEFUL, AND CREDIBLE QUALITATIVE INFORMATION FOR THESE DECISIONMAKERS. SPECIFIC CHAPTERS ARE DEVOTED TO DEVELOPING DESIGNS FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH (INCLUDING METHODOLOGICAL MIXES AND DESIGN VARIATIONS), SELECTING APPROACHES TO FIELD OBSERVATIONS, STRUCTURING AND CONDUCTING IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS, AND CONDUCTING QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION. DISCUSSION OF THE LAST EXPLAINS HOW TO FOCUS THE ANALYSIS, HOW TO ORGANIZE THE COLLECTED DATA, HOW TO GET STARTED AND WHAT TO INCLUDE IN CASE STUDIES, HOW TO USE THE INDIGENOUS AND ANALYST-CONSTRUCTED TYPOLOGIES IN INDUCTIVE ANALYSIS, AND HOW TO DEVELOP CATEGORY SYSTEMS AND USE LOGICAL ANALYSIS TO CREATE CROSS-CLASSIFICATION MATRIXES. A SECTION ON VALIDATING AND VERIFYING EVALUATIVE DATA DEALS WITH SUCH ISSUES AS TRIANGULATION, A PROCESS USED TO CHECK OUT CONSISTENCY OF FINDINGS GENERATED BY DIFFERENT DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND TO CHECK OUT THE CONSISTENCY OF DIFFERENT DATA SOURCES WITHIN THE SAME METHOD. FINALLY, APPROPRIATE PRESENTATION OF EVALUATION FINDINGS IS DISCUSSED. TABLES, FIGURES, REFERENCES, AND APPENDIXES CONTAINING A CONTENT ANALYSIS CODEBOOK, AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY, AND AN INTERVIEW ANALYSIS ARE INCLUDED.