Chapter 14 Learning Objectives:

  1. Distinguish between basic social research and evaluation research.
  2. Identify the six phases of policymaking and the type of evaluation research that is associated with each phase.
  3. Describe the objectives of formative evaluation, process evaluation, and summative evaluation.
  4. Discuss major methodological issues in evaluation research, including the role of theory and relative importance of internal versus external validity.
  5. Identify the optimum research designs for evaluating existing and new programs with full coverage, existing programs that provide partial coverage, and new programs that provide partial coverage.
  6. Explain how the social and political context of evaluation research present unique methodological challenges.

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