EVALUATION OF SOCIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMS

Many performers and users of evaluation research are dissatisfied with the field. Much of the dissatisfaction arises from the use of classical experimental paradigms and tools in evaluation research, tools which fail to fit. In this paper, a decisiontheoretical approach is suggested as an alternative way to meet the goals of evaluation research. The paper covers: ( 1) a brief critical characterization of the current characteristics of evaluation research; ( 2 ) complaints about the application of classical experimental ideas to evaluation research; ( 3 ) an argument that the decision-theoretic approach offers an alternative which more closely fits the aims and context of evaluation research, and (4) a technology developed by Ward Edwards for the application of a particular decision-theoretic approach to evaluation research.