Collaborative Evaluation systematically invites and engages stakeholders in program evaluation planning and implementation. Unlike "distanced" evaluation approaches, which reject stakeholder participation as evaluation team members, Collaborative Evaluation assumes that active, on-going engagement between evaluators and program staff,…

Social work and child welfare practitioners have long confronted the reality that child maltreatment and domestic violence often coexist within families. However, services for the victims of these types of family violence have been fragmented, forcing victims to go to multiple agencies for assistance. The purpose of this paper is to describe the…

Conflict of interest refers to a set of conditions in which professional judgment concerning the validity of research might be influenced by a secondary competing interest. The competing interest that has received most attention in the literature addressing the prevalence and effects of such conflicts on the practice of empirical research has been…

Concept mapping was used to assess the fidelity of an experimental program model for psychiatrically disabled street dwellers. Concept maps portrayed the program as conceptualized by its Boston University developers and program staff. Quantitative and descriptive analyses of the maps indicated good fidelity of model transfer. (SLD)

Six case studies are discussed, which illustrate the experimental and pragmatic epistemological paradigms as they function independently, compete with one another, or complement each other. Researchers should consider not only the substantive goals of an evaluation, but also the epistemological goals. (SLD)

Priority setting is examined from the perspective of planning practitioners operating in a major federal regulatory agency. Causes of ambivalence in setting priorities are considered, and ways to reduce ambivalence are suggested. Three models are proposed for setting priorities in the public sector. (SLD)

An evaluation of case management services to families on public assistance suggests that a "logic model" and an "open systems" evaluation approach might be useful in program evaluation. A second study describes how the logic model and open systems evaluation were used to develop an evaluation plan for services to homeless…

Selected executive directors of local and national Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) service organizations were asked about their need and desire for a national organization. Replies of 12 local and 8 national directors confirmed the desire for such an organization and suggested various models for its organization. (SLD)

Articles in this special issue use survey data to provide policymakers with validated indirect needs assessment models that will help them obtain information about populations requiring different levels and types of mental health services. The articles provide the basis for predictive needs assessment and explanatory models of resource allocation.…