Evaluating Program Effectiveness: Validity and Decision-Making in Outcome Evaluation

The book shows how to apply validity concepts when planning and conducting an evaluation, thereby making sure that the evaluation stays true to the purposes for which it was initiated. Marc T. Braverman demonstrates that evaluating with validity means being able to answer the evaluation questions in a way that is useful, accurate, and reflective of the information needed from the evaluation. His approach is practical, with the goal of helping evaluators to conduct high-quality outcome evaluations, and he illustrates concepts with case study examples drawn from studies of intervention effectiveness over many years. The book begins by looking at the ways that validity is conceptualized and the uses to which it is put. Subsequent chapters analyze separate phases of the outcome evaluation process and the critical decisions about design and analysis that are typically required.

Marc T. Braverman is a Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University, and an Extension Specialist in OSU’s Family and Community Health program. Dr. Braverman has published in the areas of evaluation theory, applied research methods, measurement and survey methodology, tobacco control policy, health promotion, adolescent health, and other topics. He was the Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach in OSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences from 2005-2011. Prior to coming to OSU, Dr. Braverman was an Extension Specialist at the University of California, Davis (1983-2005) and an evaluator at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (now Education Northwest) in Portland, Oregon (1981-83). At UC Davis he established and directed the Tobacco Control Evaluation Center in 2004, with funding from the California Department of Health Services. In 1998-99 he was a visiting researcher at Norway’s National Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Braverman has received grants, as PI or co-Investigator, from the National Cancer Institute, the US Department of Agriculture, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the California Department of Health Services, and other funders. He co-edited the book Foundations and evaluation: Contexts and practices for effective philanthropy (Jossey-Bass, 2004). He has led numerous program and policy evaluations and has taught graduate classes on program evaluation, adolescent development, and research methods. He has a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.