Chapter 4: Intervention & Evaluation Flashcards
intervention may be defined as…
a strategy (or procedure) that is intended to influence the behavior of people for the purpose of improving their functioning with respect to some social or practical problem.
Personal interventions are those that…
people carry out in the course of their daily
lives
ex. when they use their knowledge of
social psychology to improve their own circumstances
or those of people around them
What are the two types of intervention?
Personal and Pragmatic.
Pragmatic Interventions are commonly called…
Programs.
What is a program?
“an organized collection of activities designed to reach certain objectives
Trial interventions are those
that are…
What is another name these might be called by?
- …implemented to determine whether the interventions, as designed, in fact have the intended positive consequences.
- aka Program efficacy studies
What are the 4 key tasks in Intervention design and delivery?
- Identifying the Problem
- Arriving at a Solution
- Setting Goals & Designing the Intervention.
- Implementing the Intervention
What are two parts of identifying the problem?
- Identifying STAKEHOLDERS: are people who have a vested interest in the possible development of a program in that they may be affected.
- NEEDS ASSESSMENT: refer to the process of establishing whether or not there is a need or problem (these words are used interchangeably) to sufficiently warrant the development of a program.
What is the difference between a formal and informal needs assessment?
Informal: Relies on stakeholders informing of issue.
Formal: relies on systematic research procedures for collecting data that are relevant to problem severity and prevalence
What are two parts of causal factors?
Causal factors fall under what step of design and delivery?
- precipitating factors
(i.e., those that triggered the problem)
and
perpetuating factors (i.e., those that sustain the
problem and keep it from being solved) - Arriving at a Solution
Literature reviews are under what step of the design and delivery model?
Arriving at the solution, step 2
Describe Inoculation Theory.
Who did McAllister, Perry, and Maccoby attempt to apply this to?
- a weak attack will inoculate you against future attacks to your beliefs.
- They helped school age children resist pressures to smoke by ‘inoculating’ with an early, weak attack of pressure.
Intervention hypotheses are…
“if–then” statements that summarize the intervention and the expected outcomes.
Define: program activities
refers to the specific components and procedures of the program.
Goals refer to…
the ultimate or long-term outcomes that one hopes to accomplish through an intervention.
Objectives refer to…
short-term outcomes (e.g., during or immediately after an intervention) and intermediate term changes (e.g., one or two months later)
Intermediate changes refer to what time period?
2 months
To combat
this tendency, stakeholders may use the acronym
“_____” to develop outcomes that have five criteria:
SMART
Specific
Measurable
Appropriate
Relevant
Timebound
Define: program logic model
Blueprint of how the program activities lead to the attainment of the program objectives, and how the objectives contribute
to the eventual achievement of the program goal(s)
What is especially emphasized in a program logic model?
cause and effect
What is a program logic model based on?
A supported theoretical framework/rationale
Some have begun to emphasize the ‘theory of change model’ instead of ‘program logic model’ to
underscore the need to…
make explicit an intervention’s underlying theory, including the steps involved along the path to desired change; the assumptions being made; and the preconditions that may enable (or inhibit) the desired change
implementation refers to…
the actual process of enacting the intervention activities.
As defined in the Encyclopedia of Evaluation, evaluation is…
an applied inquiry process for collecting and synthesizing evidence that culminates in conclusions about the state of affairs, value, merit, worth, significance, or quality of a program.
Conclusions made in evaluations:
Define ‘Empirical Aspect’
That something is the case
Conclusions made in evaluations:
Define ‘Normative Aspect’
judgement about the value of something
What is the unofficial ‘fifth step’ of Intervention Design and Delivery?
Evaluation.
Specifically, a major reason for evaluation research is to…
test the theoretical assumptions underlying the intervention.
What are 4 reasons for evaluation?
- Scientific knowledge
- Ethical Integrity
- Financial responsibility
- Program Development
Program development should insure what 3 aspects?
- Basis on empirically tested theoretical frameworks
- Conducted with Ethical safeguards
- Have good benefits for the associated costs
What was the failure of the
Cambridge–Somerville project?
at risk boys received more supports but ended up with same juvenile arrests and mortality rates as control group.
Types of Evaluation
- Process evaluation
Process evaluation is also known as…?
Define.
- formative evaluation
- is undertaken to determine
whether the program has reached its target
audience
outcome evaluation is also known as…?
Define
- summative evaluation
- assesses how well a program meets its objectives
