wk 10

Use of Group Designs in Program Evaluation

When conducting an outcome evaluation for a program, social workers must select a research design that allows them to gather data in a feasible and appropriate manner while also maximizing validity. Group designs can be categorized as cross-sectional, meaning data is collected just once, or longitudinal, meaning data is collected twice or more. Collecting data before and after the program intervention provides a comparison that can more directly attribute client change to the program itself, rather than to an extraneous factor.

Prepare

• Review Chapter 9 of the course text, paying particular attention to the “Group Designs for Programs” section.
• Access the Social Work Case Studies media and navigate to the Planning a Program Evaluation case study. Consider which group research design would be most appropriate for the scenario.

By Day 3

• Provide a brief description of the foster parent training program (1–2 sentences).
• Identify which group research design you will use (from those outlined in the Resources as appropriate for the Program Evaluation case study) and state why.
• Identify the outcomes to be measured.
• Describe specific measurements that you will use to assess those outcomes. 
• Explain which data collection method you will use and why.
• Specify who will collect the data and how the data will be collected. 

Week 10: Learning Resources

Learning Resources

Required Readings

• Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do  (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
  
  • Chapter 9, “Is the Intervention Effective?” (pp. 215–250)
  • Chapter 10, “Analyzing Evaluation Data” (pp. 255–275)
• Gregory, C., & Gellis, Z. (2020). Problem solving therapy for home-hospice caregivers: A pilot study. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 16 (4), 297–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2020.1800554

Required Media

• Walden University, LLC. (2022). Social work case studies  [Interactive media]. https://waldenu.instructure.com
  
  • Navigate to the Planning a Program Evaluation case study.

For this Discussion, you evaluate group research design methods that can be used for an outcome evaluation of a foster parent training program. You also generate criteria to be measured in the program.