Evaluating Practice continues to be the most comprehensive practice evaluation text available.
Focusing on single-system designs, Evaluating Practice, 6/e presents clear guidelines on conceptualizing and measuring problems, developing practice-oriented evaluation designs, understanding and analyzing data, and ethical guidelines for practice evaluation.
Unsurpassed among human service evaluation texts for bringing clarity to evaluation procedures, Evaluating Practice comes with a free CD-ROM featuring numerous programs, including the innovative SINGWIN program for analyzing data (created by Charles Auerbach, David Schnall, and Heidi Heft Laporte of Yeshiva University), and the CASS and CAAP programs (created by Walter Hudson) for managing cases and scoring scales.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Prologue
Part I What Are You Getting Into?
1 Integrating Evaluation and Practice
Introduction to Single-System Designs
What Are Single-System Designs?
Evidence-Based Practice
Single-System Designs and Classical Research: The Knowledge-Building Context
Single-System Evaluation, Qualitative Research, and Quantitative Research
Advantages of Using Single-System Designs in Practice
A Walk through the Evaluation Process
Summary
Part II Conceptualizing and Measuring Targets and Objectives/Goals
2 Basic Principles of Conceptualization and Measurement
Introduction
What Is Conceptualization?
What Is Measurement?
Definition as a First Step in Measurement
Can Everything Be Measured?
Key Characteristics of All Measures
Summary
3 Specifying Problems and Goals
Introduction: From General Problems to Specific Targets of Intervention
Specifying Client Concerns: Identifying and Clarifying Problems and Potentials
Specifying Goals and Objectives
Using Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) to Establish Goals
Setting Goals in Groups
Problems and Issues in Setting Goals
Summary
4 Developing a Measurement and Recording Plan
Introduction
Steps in Developing a Recording Plan
Charting: Putting Your Information on Graphs
Problem-Oriented Records (POR)
Use of Computers in Evaluation and Practice
Summary
Computer Assisted Social Services (CASS): A User’s Guide
Appendix: Installing CASS
5 Behavioral Observation
Introduction
General Guidelines for Behavioral Observation
Sampling Behaviors
Instruments for Recording Behaviors
Ensuring Accurate Observations
Methods of Recording Behavior
Analog Situations
Recording Behavior in Groups
Summary
6 Individualized Rating Scales
Introduction
Uses of Individualized Rating Scales
Constructing and Using Individualized Rating Scales
Summary
7 Standardized Scales
Introduction
What Are Standardized Scales?
Selecting a Standardized Scale
Administering a Standardized Scale
Some Available Standardized Self-Report Scales
Some Available Standardized Scales for Practitioners
Some Available Standardized Scales for Relevant Others
Some Available Standardized Scales for Independent Observers
Do-It-Yourself Scales
Using Standardized Scales in Groups
Computer Management of Standardized Scales
Summary
Appendix
Computer Assisted Assessment Package (CAAP): A User’s Guide
8 Logs
Introduction
Types of Client Logs
Putting Qualitative and Quantitative Information Together
Introducing Clients to Logs
Practitioner Logs
Maximizing and Verifying the Reliability and Validity of Logs
Summary
9 Reactivity and Nonreactive Measures
Introduction
Reactivity of Measures
Unobtrusive (Nonreactive) Measures
Summary
10 Selecting a Measure
Introduction
Considerations in Deciding on a Measure
Use of Multiple Measures
Selecting a Measure
Summary
Part III
Evaluation Designs
11 Basic Principles of Single-System Designs
Introduction
An Example Connecting Practice and Evaluation Designs
Purposes of Single-System Designs
Unique Characteristics of Single-System Designs
Causality in Single-System Designs
External Validity and Generalizability
Overview of Single-System Designs
Summary
12 Baselining
Introduction
Purposes of the Baseline
Types of Baselines
How Long Should Baselining Continue?
When Are Baselines Not Necessary?
Issues Regarding Baselining
Summary
13 From the Case Study to the Basic Single-System Design: A-B
Introduction
Case Studies or Predesigns
Design A-B: The Basic Single-System Design
Summary
14 The Experimental Single-System Designs: A-B-A, A-B-A-B, B-A-B
Introduction
Basic Experimental Designs
Summary
15 Multiple Designs for Single Systems
Introduction
Multiple-Baseline Designs: Across Problems, Clients, or Settings
Multiple-Target Designs
Variations on Multiple Designs
Summary
16 Changing Intensity Designs and Successive Intervention Designs
Introduction
Changing Intensity Designs: A-B1-B2-B3
Successive Intervention Designs: A-B-C, A-B-A-C, A-B-A-C-A
Summary
17 Designs for Comparing Interventions
Introduction
Alternating Intervention Design: A-B/C-(B or C)
Interaction Design: A-B-A-B-BC-B-BC
Summary
18 Selecting a Design
Introduction
Framework for Selecting a Design
Needed: A Design for All Seasons
Creativity in Single-System Designs: Making Your Own Designs
Evaluation in Minimal-Contact Situations
Single-System Designs in Managed Care: The Stretch Design
Trouble-Shooting: “Okay, I Understand Everything That You Said, but My Case Is Different.”
Summary
Part IV
Analyzing Your Results
19 Basic Principles of Analysis
Introduction
Distinguishing Effort, Effectiveness, and Efficiency
Significance—Practical, Statistical, and Theoretical
Evaluating Goal Achievement
Issues in Analysis of Data
Computer Analysis of Data for Single-System Designs
The Issue of Autocorrelation
Tools in Analysis of Data
Summary
20 Visual Analysis of Single-System Design Data
Introduction
Definition of Terms
Basic Patterns and Implications
Visual Inspection of Raw Data
Interpreting Ambiguous Patterns
Problems of Visual Inspection
Creating a Chart with SINGWIN
Summary
21 Descriptive Statistics
Introduction
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Variation
Using Measures of Central Tendency and Variability to Graph Group Data
Computing and Graphing Measures of Central Tendency and Variation with SINGWIN
Measures of Trend
Measures of Effect Size
Optimal Uses and Cautions for Specific Descriptive Statistics
Summary
22 Tests of Statistical Significance for Single-System Designs
Introduction
Proportion/Frequency Approach
Three-Standard-Deviation-Band Approach (X-Moving-Range-Chart)
Chi-Square
Conservative Dual-Criteria (CDC) Approach
t-Test
General Considerations in Using Tests of Statistical Significance
Optimal Uses and Cautions for Specific Analytic Procedures
Summary
23 Computer Analysis of Single-System Design Data
Chapter Overview
Starting SINGWIN
Exiting SINGWIN
Getting the Big Picture
Using Specific Procedures
Appendix: Installing Singwin
Summary
24 Selecting a Procedure for Analyzing Data
Introduction
Framework for Selecting a Procedure for Analyzing Data
Other Statistical Considerations
Nonstatistical Considerations
Limitations
Summary
Part V
The Challenge of Single-System Designs
25 Not for Practitioners Alone
Introduction
Special Applications of Single-System Designs
Recent Criticisms of Single-System Evaluation
For the Client
For the Administrator
For Educators and Students
Summary
References
Name Index
Subject Index
