1. Quasi Experimental and single case experimental designs
Chapter 11

2. Program Evaluation
Research on programs that are proposed and implemented to achieve some positive effect on a group of people
i.e. DARE program evaluation
Applies research approaches to evaluate types of programs

3. Program Evaluation Types Needs assessment Assessment of program theory
What problems, if any, need to be addressed?
Once identified researchers can plan accordingly
Assessment of program theory
Used to fix problems found in a needs assessment
Involves collaboration of service providers, researchers, clientele, etc…
Process evaluation
Program monitoring to determine if program is doing what it is supposed to
Is the target population being reached?
Are the research questions being answered?

4. Program Evaluation Types
Outcome evaluation
Impact assessment
What did the participants like/dislike about the study?
Studying the outcome and then assess the impact of the outcome measure.
Efficiency assessment
Was the program worth it?
Did the benefits outweigh the costs?
Uses quasi-experimental designs to assess effectiveness and efficiency

5. Quasi experimental designs
1 group posttest only design
Has no comparison group
Doesn’t have good internal validity
1 group pretest-posttest design
History
Could confound results
Maturation
People change over time and this could skew results
Testing
Previous experience could change behavior
Instrument decay
the deterioration of research instruments or methods during a study

6. Quasi experimental designs
Instrument decay
equipment may wear out, respondents may become more casual in recording their responses.
Regression toward the mean
a.k.a statistical regression
The tendency for extreme scores in a distribution to move (regress) toward the mean of the distribution w/ repeated testing.
Problem of reliability
Occurs when a set of extreme scores collected at one time point is compared to scores taken at another time point.

7. Quasi experimental designs
Nonequivalent control group design
A separate control group
Selection differences – choosing groups based on naturally existing categories; this is why study is called nonequivalent
Nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design
Benefit: a pretest for comparison purposes
Interrupted time series design
Measurement of dependent variable is interrupted by the quasi independent variable
By taking multiple measurements you can look at the effectiveness of a treatment before and after it is introduced.
Control series design
Extension of the interrupted time series design with a control group

8. Quasi experimental designs
1 group posttest only design
E X O
1 group pretest-posttest design
E O X O
Nonequivalent control group design
C O
Nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design
C O O
Interrupted time series design
E O O O X O O O
Control series design
C O O O O O O
E = experimental group
X = treatment
C = control group
O = observation to collect data

9. Single case experimental designs
A.K.A. Single subject designs or Single participant designs
Baseline control period  treatment period
The change in behavior during these periods could be attributed to a variety of things
Reversal designs
To determine if treatment had an effect, revert back to baseline (no treatment) and look at the differences
ABA design
Baseline control period  treatment period  control period
Can also do a ABAB design

10. Single case experimental designs
Multiple baseline designs
Observing behavior before and after a manipulation under multiple circumstances
Can be done
Across subjects
Across behaviors
Across situations