METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN EVALUATING FAMILY COURT PROGRAMS |
| |
| Authors: | Sanford L Braver Melanie C Smith Stephanie R DeLusé |
| |
| Institution: | Sanford L. Braves Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Codirector of Program for Prevention Research at Arizona State University. His research interests involve issues facing divorcing families, and developing and applying sound research methodology to family issues.;Melanie C. Smith is a doctoral student in psychology at Arizona State University. She received her M.S. in family resources and human development in 1993. Her current research interests are focused on methodological issues in prevention research, including the design, analysis, and evaluation of preventionhntervention programs.;Stephanie R. DeLuséis a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology at Arizona State University. She is currently working at the Program for Prevention Research, and is interested in applying strong scientific methods to programs for individuals and families. |
| |
| Abstract: | Although there has been in recent years a proliferation of court programs, especially divorced parent education programs, evaluations of the effectiveness of these programs lag dangerously behind their inception, perhaps because program developers and courts lack the expertise to perform these evaluations. The present article provides a primer of the methodological considerations for evaluations of court programs. The authors discuss the following topics: formative versus summative evaluations; how to discover program goals by identifying stakeholders; how these goals translate into measures to be assessed; the data sources for these measures (exit questionnaires, archival data, and follow-up surveys); answering the “compared with what?” question through the selection of an appropriate research design; budgeting the evaluation; and disseminating the findings through appropriate write-up(s). |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
