Evaluating a Coordinated Community Response (From Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic Violence: Lessons From Duluth and Beyond, P 169-191, 1999, Melanie F. Shepard and Ellen L. Pence, eds. -- See NCJ-180760)

• NCJ Number: 180767
• Author(s): Melanie F. Shepard
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Evaluation is an important part of developing, maintaining, and enhancing a coordinated community response to domestic assault in that it provides systematic information not otherwise available and is ethically necessary in that many past interventions have been inappropriate and have led to further victimization.

Abstract

Evaluation research requires a collaborative effort between evaluators and project staff. They must agree on the type of evaluation and research methodology to use. The type of evaluation selected should reflect the program's needs for information within the context of its current stage of development. Evaluators should use a range of methodological issues to address the complex evaluation needs of community intervention projects. Issues to address include the privacy and confidentiality of research participants, the implications of program changes made for evaluation purposes for risk to battered women, and the evaluation of project implementation and impact. Evaluators should meet with project staff and review evaluation findings and their implications. Project staff should consider what program changes the findings indicate. The inevitable tension between the researcher and the project staff can be positive; they share the goal of safety for women and must work continually to respect their different perspectives and to learn from each other. 25 references