Evaluation and education: the ideal learning community

In this article we develop philosophically Cronbach's (1982) suggestion that the evaluator is an educator. The motivation for this article arose from problems encountered by us on a major evaluation project and from dissatisfaction with the existent philosophical underpinnings of evaluation theory. We propose, and provide a justification for, a model of evaluation based upon the notion of the evaluator as educator, which is sufficiently broad philosophically not only to subsume scientistic and humanistic models, but also to transcend them. Within this broad philosophical model we develop a particular theory of evaluation, based essentially upon Wittgenstein, and in which the notion of a learning community is taken as central. Finally we consider some practical implications of this theory of evaluation.     

Uneasy freedom: Women's experiences of contraception

This article discusses the effect of available contraceptive methods upon women's lives. It quotes extensively from letters received from women who answered a press appeal for information. The main argument is that contraception is by no means the trouble free panacea it is often assumed to be. For many women, contraception can bring considerable mental and physical side- effects—pain, anxiety, discomfort. Women also have to deal with the patriarchal attitudes of the medical profession and—often unsympathetic—partners. The women's accounts show how experience of contraception can be a radicalising experience—feeding the beginnings of a feminist awareness.The article was written before the latest evidence of a connection between the pill and breast cancer was made known.     

Cross-Border Criminal Investigation in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: International Policing and the Theory of (inter-) Organisational Conflict

This article presents findings of the research by Nelen, Peters and Vanderhallen (2013b) regarding cross-border police cooperation in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. These findings are scrutinised in light of the conceptual framework of inter-organisational conflict (Scott, Austral Social Work 58:132–141, 2005) to provide an enhanced and more in-depth analysis of the possibilities and difficulties in international police cooperation. Potential conflict between cooperating organisations is identified by five levels of analysis: (i) inter-organisational; (ii) intra-organisational; (iii) inter-professional; (iv) interpersonal and (v) intra-personal. Obstacles for international police cooperation are mainly found at the inter-organisational level and interpersonal level. Particularly, the Euroregional police organisations and their case management systems are ill attuned, creating conflict in cooperation. The article concludes with the potential benefits for further police cooperation in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion which are identified through the analysis and provides feedback on the conceptual framework.     

Classifying Risk Development and Predicting Parolee Recidivism with Growth Mixture Models

Using two data sets, containing 582 total cases, this study investigates whether classifying offenders on trajectories of risk scores helps predict parolee recidivism. One data set has 4 years of risk scores and another has three. Both data sets contain control variables measuring released inmates’ characteristics. The dependent variable measures arrest or return to prison over a 2-year span. A growth mixture model, classifies offenders into three classes, a stable and high trajectory group, a group with a high but declining risk trajectory, and a small, low-risk group with little change. Trajectory class membership correlates with recidivism in both data sets. Supplementary analyses show that assigned classes are better predictors of recidivism than last risk scores or simple change scores. Discussion centers on the appeal and relevance of trajectories of risk, as opposed to static measures, for predicting offender misconduct and other outcomes.