Intervention-Oriented Designs

In the present chapter I discuss two types of intervention-oriented designs by looking at purpose and strategies in evaluation research and action research. My main argument is that comprehensive evaluations of interventions and measures must combine studies of process and effect. Measures, interventions, and reforms in society build on a more or less explicit theory of action about the effects of the measure. To evaluate the measures, we need to know something about the effects, and this can best be done through a variable-centred effect study with a control group. However, in order to develop knowledge about why the action succeeded or failed in producing the expected effects, we also need to analyse the underlying theories of action and implementation processes. Therefore, it is possible to talk about intervention-oriented designs as combinations of process-oriented and effect-oriented analysis.