The Nonutilization of Evaluation Research

The past few decades have witnessed a marked increase in deliberate attempts to deal with social problems through rationally planned intervention programs. This approach, which was initially focused on the areas of juvenile delinquency and the recidivism of adult offenders, can now be found applied to the full gamut of social problems. In each specific area, be it crime, sexual deviance, or the "improper" utilization of health or educational services, a myriad of social programs have been proposed and carried out by both government and private organizations. Along with this proliferation of social programs has come an increased concern for assessing their effectiveness and efficiency. One important response to this concern has been the use of applied social science research to collect data about programs for the purpose of assessing their impact. Thus, the past decade has seen an explosion of interest in so-called "evaluation research" on the part of foundations, universities, professional associations, consumer groups, and others, as well as by all levels of government. Prior to 1964, for example, only a few hundred thousand dollars was spent annually on evaluation of educational programs. But by 1970, the federal government alone was spending over five million dollars per year evaluating such programs (Cohen and Garet, 1975). Similar figures could be cited for other areas such as health, mental health, crime prevention, and vocational rehabilitation.