This paper draws some conclusions from our experience with the state-w
ide evaluation of the Washington State Mental Health Reform Act. Some
of these lessons will be familiar, but we note that as the scope of th
e evaluation widens, so too does the complexity and difficulty of the
process, and other evaluators can expect similar complications. We als
o comment on a number of the decisions we made in our project, and on
the characteristics of this type of evaluation and evaluation context,
in the hope that these reflections might be useful in other situation
s.