Program administrators and planners face increasing pressure from
funding sources, professional groups, and recipients of service to
provide and to make use of systematic data. Until recently,
administrators could rely on research consultants to assist them in
performing these research tasks, but with increased costs and
reduced funds, many administrators and planners have had to utilize
research concepts and techniques themselves in developing,
maintaining, and modifying social programs. "Research Techniques
for Program Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation" is designed to
provide research skills that will assist administrators directly in
making program decisions. The book offers administrators of health,
education, and social welfare programs, as well as students of
social work and public administration, a wide range of research
techniques for increasing the quality and effectiveness of
administrative practice, lessening at the same time their
dependence on costly research consultation. "Research Techniques"
contains three major sections: program planning, monitoring, and
evaluation. Each section begins with a description of the
administrative function to which it is devoted, followed by a set
of selected research techniques, each illustrated with a
hypothetical case and an exercise for the reader in applying the
technique to an existing social program or agency. Planning for a
new agency program requires valid and reliable information about
the needs of the target population, the existing programs to meet
these needs, effective intervention stratifies, and the skills of
the members of the agency staff. Professors Epstein and Tripodi
suggest valuable guidelines for collecting these data. In addition,
they outline the specific decisions that must be made so that
realistic objectives can be set for relating client demand to the
available supply of services. Among the research techniques for the
program planning which they explore are questionnaires, interviews,
research literature already available, and observational
techniques. Monitoring measures the actual program performance
against its planning objectives, enabling administrators to modify
a program operation or report its success to sponsors. With program
monitoring, an administrator can decide whether to reallocate
staff, to ask for an increase in budget, or to realign policies in
compliance with legal requirements. Separate chapters are devoted
to sampling techniques for asserting staff performance as well as
to the principles of data analysis. Program evaluation takes
effectiveness and efficiency into account in assembling the
achievement of program goals. Emphasizing administrative
self-evaluation, "Research Techniques" explains the interrupted
time series design, the replicated cross-sectional survey design,
comparative designs, and the crossover design in terms the
nonstatistician will find easy to understand. "Research Techniques
for Program Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation" is an
indispensable guide, offering administrators and planners sound
professional advice on more responsible administrative decision
making.
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