Background: Recent reviews suggest that many plausible programs are found to have at best small impacts not commensurate with their cost, and often have no detectable positive impacts at all. Even programs with initial rigorous impact evaluation (RIE) that show them to be effective often fail a second test with an expanded population or at…

This article explores the statistical methodologies used in demonstration and effectiveness studies when the treatments are applied across multiple settings. The importance of evaluating and how to evaluate these types of studies are discussed. As an alternative to standard methodology, the authors of this article offer an empirical binomial…

Describes the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and reviews and assesses research on its impact. Recommends policy reforms and randomized experiments to evaluate the program and any changes made to it. Weaknesses in research to date make the real impacts of WIC unclear. (Contains 79 references.) (SLD)

This article discusses the use of propensity scoring in experimental program evaluations to estimate impacts for subgroups defined by program features and participants' program experiences. The authors discuss estimation issues and provide specification tests. They also discuss the use of an overlooked data collection design--obtaining predictions…

Implemented a comprehensive, school-based instructional and social-competency-promotion program to prevent problem behavior in a middle school. Evaluation of the five-year program showed that it was ineffective, with no dependable results on youth behavior. Discusses implications of these findings. (SLD)

To explore the treatment fidelity of employee safety-belt programs, 614 organizations were divided into 2 groups: those that had (n=183), and those that had not (n=431) conducted an evaluation. Multiple regression analysis of associated data indicated that evaluation-active organizations were generally more active in other program areas. (TJH)

Estimates are presented for net earnings impact of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act programs. Net impact was linked to the human capital model and estimated for numerous subgroups. The matching procedure and the use of quasiexperimental versus experimental design are also discussed. (Author/GDC)

Evaluation findings of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Community Demonstration Program show few clear indications of the effectiveness of case management approaches. This article identifies phenomena that explain the lack of positive effects and suggests that evaluation problems may explain apparent negative…

The experience of development assistance (donor) agencies with the monitoring and evaluation of their projects in the developing countries is reviewed. The concepts and definitions of monitoring and evaluation are traced and problems and issues that emerged in the 1970's are reviewed. Future directions are discussed. (SLD)

Two studies used experimental data to evaluate nonexperimental methods of program evaluation for employment and training programs. Results of both studies indicated that the nonexperimental methods might not accurately replicate the experimental estimates. Also, new methods for constructing comparison groups yielded little improvement over…

An evaluation of efforts by the Carter and Reagan Administrations to reduce fraud, error, and mismanagement in social programs is provided, examining the food stamp program as an example. Data available do not make it possible to say whether these administrative and political efforts actually decreased fraud and error. (SLD)

This study assessed the nature of response bias in a two-stage data-collection design (telephone interviews followed by a questionnaire mailing), which was used to examine the effectiveness of a state-level pharmaceutical assistance program for the elderly. Demographic and health factors affecting response (N=1,705 elderly persons) are discussed.…