NCJ Number
64402
Date Published
1979
Length
15 pages
Annotation
THIS RESEARCH ESSAY STATES THAT THERE IS REASON TO QUESTION WHETHER PROGRAM EVALUATION CAN MAKE A BENEFICIAL IMPACT ON CHANGE.
Abstract
A GROWING DEMORALIZATION IS EVIDENT AMONG PERSONS INVOLVED WITH EVALUATION SINCE EVALUATION APPEARS TO SOME TO HAVE FAILED TO AFFECT DECISIONMAKING IN A SIGNIFICANT WAY. YET THERE IS MOUNTING EVIDENCE THAT EVALUATIONS ARE HAVING MORE IMPACT THAN BEFORE. THERE SEEMS TO BE AN EMERGING AWARENESS THAT EVALUATORS HAVE BEEN SEEKING A DIRECT IMMEDIATE COUPLING OF EVALUATION AND DECISONMAKING. TWO PHENOMENA SUGGEST THAT EVALUATIONS WOULD DO BETTER TO DELAY IMMEDIATE REINFORCING OF FEEDBACK TO ALLOW MORE APPROPRIATE AND PENETRATING CONTRIBUTIONS TO BECOME EVIDENT. FOR EXAMPLE, CORROBORATING FINDINGS--THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF MULTIPLE STUDIES OVER TIME--CAN BE SIGNIFICANT. IT IS NOT ONLY THE ACCUMULATION OF CORROBORATING STUDIES THAT INFLUENCE CHANGE. CORROBORATING INFLUENCES MAY SPRING FROM SEEDS BEYOND THE EVALUATION RESEARCHERS' DOING, AND THEIR WORK MAY PROVE FAR MORE INFLUENTIAL THAN EARLY AND DIRECT FEEDBACK WOULD SUGGEST. DECISIONMAKERS ARE ALSO INDICATING THAT RESEARCH CAN MAKE SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEIR WORK BY CHALLENGING THE IDEAS CURRENTLY IN VOGUE AND PROVIDING ALTERNATIVES WAYS OF ADDRESSING POLICY PROBLEMS AND NEW PROCEDURES FOR COPING WITH NEEDS. IF EVALUATION IS TO REACH OPTIMUM MATURITY IN ITS POTENTIAL ROLE CONTRIBUTION, IT MUST EXPAND ITS HORIZONS INTO DECISIONMAKING. A CHANGE MODEL FOR DECISIONMAKING IS OUTLINED, DECISION DETERMINANTS ANALYSIS. THIS MODEL REPORTS THE FACTORS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND TO INFLUENCE THE DECISION TO USE EVALUATION RESULTS IN PRACTICE OF POLICY CHANGE. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS GIVEN. (MJW)