Chapter 10 - Research Designs for Special Circumstances

Question 1

Program Evaluation

Answer 1

An appraisal process that contributes to decisions on installing, continuing, expanding, certifying, or modifying social programs, depending on their effectiveness.

Question 2

Articulate five questions that program evaluations seek to answer

Answer 2

• Evaluation of Need
• Are there problems that need to be addressed in a target population?
• Program Theory
• How will the problems be addressed? Will the proposed program actually address the needs appropriately?
• Process Evaluation
• Is the program addressing the needs appropriately? Is it being implemented appropriately?
• Outcome Evaluation
• Are the intended outcomes of the program being realized?
• Efficiency Assessment
• Is the cost of the program worth the outcome?

Question 3

Define quasi-experimental research and offer examples of three
different quasi-experimental designs

Answer 3

An experimental design in which assignment of participants to an experimental group or to a control group cannot be made at random for either practical or ethical reasons.

Assignment of participants to conditions is usually based on self-selection or selection by an administrator.

Such designs introduce a set of assumptions or threats to internal validity that must be acknowledged by the researcher when interpreting study findings.

1. One-Group Designs
2. Non-Equivalent Control Group Designs
3. Interrupted Time & Control Series Design

Question 4

Compare and contrast longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cohort-sequential research designs

Answer 4

Longitudinal Research
- The study of a variable or group of variables in the same cases or participants over a period of time, sometimes several years.
- A longitudinal study that evaluates a group of randomly chosen individuals is referred to as a panel study.
- A longitudinal study that evaluates a group of individuals possessing some common characteristic (usually age) is referred to as a cohort study.

Cross-Sectional Research
- A research design in which individuals, typically of different ages or developmental levels, are compared at a single point in time.
- Given its snapshot nature, however, it is difficult to determine causal relationships using a cross-sectional design.
- Moreover, a cross-sectional study is not suitable for measuring changes over time, for which a longitudinal design is required.

Cohort-Sequential Research
- An experimental design in which multiple measures are taken over a period of time from two or more groups of different ages (birth cohorts).
- Such studies essentially are a combination of a longitudinal design and a cross-sectional design.

Question 5

Generate examples of eight threats to internal validity