FORMULATING THE PROBLEM
    Measurement
    Experimental Designs
    Quasi-Experimental Designs
    Operationalizing Success/Failure
    Qualitative Evaluations

    Often, the hardest part of evaluation research involves specifying exactly the intervention seeks to change.  Let's say we want to reduce spousal abuse.  What do we mean by that term?  Are we talking about physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, all of the above, two of the above, or what?  Are we interested only in married couples, or will we consider common law marriages?  How about gay and lesbian couples?  Whatever we choose, that's only the beginning, as each of the terms used above would need further specification.

    As you'll recall from the earlier discussions of conceptualization and operationalization, this process leads eventually to a specification of how we will measure the variables under consideration.  In the case of spousal abuse, we may use offical reports of abuse, or we may choose to seek data independently--through a survey or qualitative interviews, for example.

    This section of the chapter will examine some of the quantitative and qualitative research designs appropriate to evaluation research.