Congress and Program Evaluation de Clinton T. Brass

Congress and Program Evaluation

Clinton T. Brass

Blas Nunez-Neto

Erin D Williams

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 31 mai 2008

Program evaluations can play an important role in public policy debates and in oversight of government programs, potentially affecting decisions about program design, operation, and funding. One technique that has received significant recent attention is the randomised controlled trial (RCT). There are also many other types of evaluation, including the observational and qualitative designs.

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Cuprins

Preface; Introduction; Congress, Program Evaluation, and Policy Making; Key Questions about Government Programs and Policies; Program Evaluation and Informed Policy Making; Types of Program Evaluation; Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs); Many Other Methods; Possible Congressional Roles Concerning Program Evaluation; Making Program Evaluation Policy; Scrutinising and Learning From Program Evaluations; Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs); What are RCTs?; RCT Defined; Internal Validity; External Validity; Construct Validity; Evaluation Quality; Practical Capabilities and Limitations of RCTs; RCT Capabilities; RCT Limitations; RCTs in Context: Program Evaluation and Systematic Review; Concerns About Single Studies and Study Quality; Study Quality: A Hierarchy of Evidence?; Systematic Review in Health Care; Systematic Review in Social Science-Related Areas; Recent Attention to Using RCTs in Program Evaluation; Controversy in Education Policy: A Priority for RCTs?; Authority Cited for the ED Priority: NCLB and Scientifically Based Research; Reactions to the Priority; Implications and Related Developments; Assessing Programs in the Budget Process: The PART; The Bush Administrations Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART); Use of the PART; RCTs and the PART; Judging Success; Potential Issues for Congress; Issues When Directing or Scrutinising RCTs; Considering Study Parameters; Scrutinising, or Prospectively Assessing, Studies Internal and External Validity; Issues When Directing or Scrutinising Program Evaluations; What Types of Evaluations are Necessary?; What Definitions and Assumptions are Being Used?; How Should Congress Use Evaluation Information When Considering and Making Policy?; How Much Confidence Should One Have in a Study in Order to Inform Ones Thinking and Decisions?; Do Agencies Have Capacity and Independence to Properly Conduct, Interpret, and Objectively Present Program Evaluations?; Appendix A: Glossary of Selected Terms and Concepts; The Vocabulary of Program Evaluation; Selected Terms and Concepts; Index.