Chapter 15

Evaluation

Recognizing Success

Social Work Evaluation and Research

• Historically – Paramount to the work of early social work

pioneers

• Currently– Renewed emphasis on research with

emphasis on evidence-based practice

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Evidence-Based Decision Making

• Develop answerable question

• Track down evidence

• Critically appraise evidence

• Apply the evidence

• Evaluate effectiveness

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Implications for Practice

• Benefits– Enhances scientific foundation– Legitimizes practice strategies– Supports standards of accountability

• Cautions– Privileged information; May promote a focus

on individuals than on environmental contexts

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethics in Research

• Informed consent

• Confidentiality

• Anonymity

• Voluntary participation

• Objectivity

• Careful research design

• Accurate reporting of findings

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Research Process

• Specify research problem

• Review the literature

• Relate research problem to theory

• Formulate hypothesis

• Select research design

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Research Process

• Gather data

• Analyze data

• Interpret results

• Identify implications

• Prepare report

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Research Terminology

• Variables– Independent/Dependent/Intervening variables

• Hypothesis

• Measurement

• Reliable and validity

• Qualitative and quantitative analysis

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Practice Evaluation

• Measure the effectiveness of strategies

• Types– Progress evaluation– Client outcome assessment– Program evaluation

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

General Evaluative Criteria

• Key Questions– Was the desired outcome attained?– Was the outcome reached in the most direct

way?– Were the client’s rights protected and the

rights of others ensured?

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Progress Evaluation

• Continual monitoring and evaluating of action plan– Detect positive movements– Steer activities toward desired outcomes– Evaluate the viability of the plan

• Collaborative process

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client Outcome Assessment

• Measures – Degree of achievement of client systems'

expressed goals – Effectiveness of the strategies implemented

• Example: Goal Attainment Scaling – Uses clients’ goal statements as

measurement criteria

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Types of Single-System Designs

• AB design

• B design

• ABC design

• ABAB design

• BAB design

• Multiple baseline– Multiple clients, settings, & target problems

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

AB Design

• Includes – one baseline period (A) – one intervention period (B)

• Introduce single independent variable or intervention at end of baseline phase

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

B Design

• Steps– Apply intervention– Measure any changes that occur

• Drawback: Lack of baseline for comparing before and after measures

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABC Design

• Successive intervention phases following the baseline period

• Drawback: – Introduce several interventions – Uncertain which intervention has the most

effect

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABAB Design

• String of AB designs – Same client system and the same intervention

• Reversal or withdrawal design - more evidence of the causal effects

• Ethical issue: planned withdrawal of interventions

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

BAB Design

• Reversal design– No initial baseline pattern– Immediate introduction of an intervention– Observe and measure changes in data

patterns during phases

• Ethical issue: planned withdrawal of intervention

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiple Baselines

• Multiple clients: Generalize findings

• Multiple settings– Generalize outcomes of intervention in

various settings in client's life.

• Multiple target problems – Simultaneously evaluate the change in

multiple situations of a single client

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Limitations of Single-System Designs

• Not all social workers use behavioral or task-centered treatment models

• Questions– How to accommodate the research role

without violating the service role– How to ensure empowerment-oriented

participation by clients

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Program Evaluation

• Is the program accomplishing what it set out to do?

• Consumer satisfaction surveys – Assess clients' perceptions or attitudes about

an agency's delivery of services

• Use to– Make administrative decisions; Set priorities

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.