Exam 12: Evaluation and Policy Analysis

A cost-benefit analysis is an analysis in which ______.

Which of the following could be considered as possible outcomes in evaluation research?

What are clients served, case managers trained, or food parcels received referred to in evaluation research?

Evaluation research could use either quantitative or qualitative methodologies.

What are the differences between an efficiency analysis, a cost-benefit analysis, and a cost-effectiveness analysis?

In what era did scientific methods emerge as it relates to examining the workings of government with the goal of improving society?

What was one of the main initiatives in the United States in the 1960s that spawned the growth of evaluation research?

A juvenile court is assessing the impact of a diversion program. This diversion program curtails the use of secure confinement and increases the use of informal sanctions for minor delinquents. The evaluation shows that keeping minor delinquents out of secure confinements would not significantly increase the crime rate. The crime rate would remain stable because there are very few juveniles who would be eligible to participate in the diversion program. A citizen who is concerned about wasting financial resources argues that, before conducting an evaluation of impact, the researcher should have conducted an evaluation of ______.

Assessing program delivery consists of estimating the extent to which a program is reaching its intended target population.

A politician is interested in implementing a statewide welfare reform program. By providing welfare recipients with extensive job training, she believes that the number of welfare recipients will decrease. As a side benefit, she also believes that the crime rate will drop. In response, a researcher argues that the crime rate would indeed drop; however, the cost of this drop would be too high. Other cheaper alternatives could be utilized to reduce the level of crime. This researcher's work is an evaluation of ______.

An evaluation of need should be performed before new social programs are developed rather than after.

Most published evaluation studies in criminal justice are devoted to some form of need assessment.

Briefly describe the main components of a true experiment to determine if proactive policing reduces crime.

In which type of research design is the experimental group studied only once after the treatment has been delivered?

Using an experimental design, create an impact evaluation of a program that allows prisoners to attend classes at a local college. The program is designed to reduce the recidivism of participants as compared with nonparticipants.

In basic science, the motivation is to improve society.

In a theory-driven evaluation, a researcher addresses the process of the program.

A one-shot design is considered to be a credible research design.

What is a needs assessment?

A domestic violence reduction program is found to be ineffective. Researchers find the curriculum fails to consider how victims from different cultural backgrounds perceive victimization. As a result, they recommend greater cultural awareness in future iterations of the program. This is an example of a(n) ______.