Referencing in the research report

The report should follow an academic style of referencing. According to Butcher (1981: 226), there are four referencing systems from which to choose: the short-title system; the author-date system; the reference by number system; the author-number system. You need to adopt the one that is acceptable to your university and academic discipline: ‘The first

Writing a bibliography in the research report

Again, there are several well-established systems for writing a bibliography and your choice is dependent upon the preference of the discipline and university. In the social sciences some of the most commonly used ones are (Longyear 1983: 83): the Harvard system; the american psychological association system; the american Medical association system; the McGraw-Hill system;

What is evaluation?

If you go through the literature on evaluation research, you will come across many differ­ent definitions. Below are some definitions that have been selected to highlight the various dimensions of evaluation. According to Rossi, Freeman and Lipsey (1999: 4): ‘Program evalu­ation is the use of social research procedures to systematically investigate the effectiveness of

Why evaluation?

Suppose you are working in a human service agency. At some point in the course of your work, questions may come to your mind about the appropriateness of your service, its effec­tiveness, why some people like or benefit from it and others do not, how it can be improved, what sort of workload a

Intervention development evaluation process

To understand the evaluation process for an intervention, it is important that you also know how it is linked to the development of an intervention. The intervention-development— evaluation process is divided into four phases (Figure 18.2): needs assessment; intervention/programme development; intervention/programme execution; intervention/programme evaluation. The development of an intervention usually starts with an assessment

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Perspectives in the classification of evaluation studies

The various types of evaluation can be looked at from two perspectives: the focus of the evaluation; the philosophical base that underpins an evaluation. It is important to remember that these perspectives are not mutually exclusive. All evaluations categorised from the viewpoint of focus of evaluation have a philosophical base underpinning them, and so

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Types of evaluation from a focus perspective

From the perspective of the focus of evaluation there are four types of evaluation: programme/ intervention planning, process/monitoring, impact/outcome and cost-benefit/cost-effectiveness. Each type addresses a main and significantly different issue. Evaluation for planning addresses the issue of establishing the need for a programme or intervention; process evaluation empha­sises the evaluation of the process in

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Types of evaluation from a philosophical perspective

From a philosophical perspective, there are no specific models for or methods of evaluation. You use the same methods and models but the required information is gathered from dif­ferent people or aspects depending upon the philosophy that you subscribe to. Stufflebeam and Shinkfield’s book Systematic Evaluation: A Self-Instructional Guide to Theory and Practice is

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Undertaking an evaluation: the process

Like the research methodology model, which forms the basis of this book, the evaluation process is also based upon certain operational steps. It is important for you to remember that the order in the write-up of these steps is primarily to make it easier for you to understand the process. Once you are familiar

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Involving stakeholders in evaluation

Most evaluations have a number of stakeholders, ranging from consumers to experts in the area, including service providers and managers. It is important that all categories of stake­holder be involved at all stages of an evaluation. Failure to involve any group may hinder success in completion of the evaluation and seriously affect confidence in

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Ethics in evaluation

Being ethical is the core requirement of an evaluation. If for some reason you cannot be ethical, do not undertake the evaluation, as you will end up doing harm to others, and that is unethical. Although, as a good evaluator, you may have involved all the stakeholders in the planning and conduct of the