Approaches to Evaluative Research: A Review

Abstract

Social science writings on approaches to the evaluation of action programs are numerous but highly scattered. The present paper is an attempt to identify the major themes in recent social science literature with direct implications for evaluation research. The treatment is focused on situations in which action programs are conducted by formal organizations, and evaluative researchers are directly linked to program administrators. The material can be organized according to four major categories: (1) basic issues in evaluative research; (2) methodology; ( 3 ) administration of evaluative research; and (4) implementation of research findings.