CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY-BASED SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION COALITIONS - LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE NATIONAL EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
R. Cook et al., CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY-BASED SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION COALITIONS - LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE NATIONAL EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM, Journal of community psychology, 1994, pp. 155-169
In the course of developing the strategy and methods for the national
evaluation of the Community Partnership Program, a number of conceptua
l and methodological challenges were addressed. This paper discusses t
he ''lessons learned'' in meeting these challenges. It is suggested th
at the overarching evaluation challenge is the need for an expanded pe
rspective, in terms of both the phenomena evaluated and the methodolog
ies used. Other, more specific issues are discussed, including taxonom
y development, expanded conceptual and analytic frameworks, the two-ti
ered design, procedures for assessing Partnership dynamics, the ration
ale for selecting outcome measures and target populations, and the str
ategy for selecting comparison communities.