From: Brad Rose <bradrose1@COMCAST.
NET>
Subject: Evaluation Research vs Other Kinds of Social Research?
Date: January 16, 2018 at 11:14:10 AM PST
To: [email protected]
Reply-To: American Evaluation Association Discussion List
<[email protected]>
I’m writing a short piece to be used with clients. This “mini-article” (see
below) seeks to distinguish for non-evaluators, the difference between
evaluation research and other kinds of social research. I welcome your
thoughts, comments, corrections, and suggestions for things that should
be, but are not yet , included in this brief piece.
In advance, many thanks.
Brad
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Evaluation vs. Social Research
Evaluation is an enterprise whose primary goal is to identify whether
desired changes have been achieved. Evaluation is a type of applied
social research that is conducted with a value, or set of values, in its
“denominator.” Evaluation research is always conducted with an eye to
whether the outcomes, or results, of a program, initiative or policy were
achieved, especially as these outcomes are compared to a desired and
valued standard or criterion. At the heart of program evaluation is the idea
that outcomes, or changes, are valuable and desired. Some outcomes are
more valuable than others. Evaluators conduct evaluation research to find
out if these valued changes are, in fact, achieved by the program or
initiative.
Evaluation research shares many of the same methods and approaches as
other social sciences, and indeed, natural sciences. Evaluators draw upon
a range of evaluation designs (e.g. experimental design, quasi-
experimental design, non-experimental design) and a range of
methodologies (e.g. case studies, observational studies, interviews, etc.) to
learn what the effects of a given intervention have been. Did, for example,
8th grade students who received an enriched STEM curriculum do better
on tests, than did their otherwise similar peers who didn’t receive the
enriched curriculum? Do homeless women who receive career readiness
workshops succeed at obtaining employment at greater rates than do other
similar homeless women who don’t participate in such workshops? While
not all evaluations are outcome evaluations, all evaluations gather
systematic data with which judgments about the program or initiative can
be made.
Evaluation’s Differences From Other Kinds of Social Research
Evaluation research is distinct from other forms of applied social research
in so far as it:
a.. seeks to determine the merit, value, and/or worth of a program or
initiative’s activities and results.
b.. entails the systematic collection of empirical data that is used to
measure the processes and/or outcomes of a program, with the goal of
furthering the program’s development and improvement.
c.. provides actionable information for decision-makers and program
stakeholders, so that, based on objective data, a program can be
strengthened or curtailed.
d.. focuses on particular knowledge (usually about a program and its
outcomes), rather than seeks widely generalizable and universal
knowledge.
While evaluators use many of the same methods and approaches as other
researchers, evaluators must employ an explicit set of values against which
to judge the findings of their empirical research. The means that evaluators
must both be competent social scientists and exercise value-based
judgments and interpretations about the meaning of data.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brad Rose, Ph.D.
Brad Rose Consulting
[email protected]
617-512-4709
www.bradroseconsulting.com
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