New (and old) directions for validity concerning generalizability

✍ Scribed by Melvin M. Mark

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 66 KB
• Volume: 2011
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6736
• DOI: 10.1002/ev.363

✦ Synopsis

The author addresses the issue of generalizability as it arises in outcome evaluations. Methods for enhancing knowledge about generalizability in the Campbellian tradition are briefly reviewed. Recommendations are made for future practice and promising areas of future advancement regarding understanding generalizability in outcome evaluation. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.

P rogram evaluation would be a historical exercise unless one assumes some ability to generalize from evaluation findings to settings, times, and program participants other than those directly observed in the evaluation . Although a range of opinions exists, most evaluators apparently hope or presume that evaluation findings have some implications beyond the persons, settings, and times of the evaluation. It appears that at the very least, evaluators hope that evaluation findings have meaningful implications for decisions about the same program in the near future in the same setting. Likewise, at least some stakeholders appear to assume a degree of generalizability of evaluation findings. For example, how often would funders allocate resources to evaluation if they assumed that it was a purely historical exercise with no generalizability to the times, clients, and setting(s) in which they are interested?