Mary Ann Scheirer

Guiding Principles for Evaluators.

Presented here is the version of the American Evaluation Association Guiding Principles for Evaluators that was approved and copyrighted by the AEA board of directors and subsequently adopted by vote of the AEA membership.

Measuring the Degree of Program Implementation A Methodological Review

This paper discusses conceptual and methodological issues surrounding the measurement of the construct, degree of implementation, drawn from a review of 74 previous studies which included such measures. Assessments against five measurement criteria indicate that an adequate scientific basis has not been established for this construct. We suggest that future improvement in its measurement will result from an analysis of the characteristics of the innovation being implemented, particularly whether users are individuals or coordinated work groups.

The Role of Linking Agents in the Diffusion of Health Promotion Programs

This article examines the role of state health department dental offices as linking agents in the diffusion of an effective preventive health program, the fluoride mouth rinse program (FMRP) in public schools. The aim of this program is to prevent dental caries by a weekly mouthrinsing by elementary school students. In contrast to the tra ditional focus of diffusion research on characteristics of the innovation and character istics of the adopter, this study emphasizes an ecological approach, i.e., the transmittal mechanisms for diffusion. The state dental offices are examined as linking agents, which serve as program advocates or champions for diffusing the FMRP from the national level, where it was developed, to the thousands of local school districts and schools for adoption and continued delivery. Using data from interviews with state dental directors and archival sources, a multi variate model was developed and used to explain the percent of a states elementary schools using the mouthrinse program. The results support the key role of linking agents in disseminating effective health promotion programs into actual use. Implica tions are discussed for both research and practice.

Approaches to the study of implementation

This paper draws from an intensive review of measurement in previous investigations of implementation to examine the relationship of this construct to other innovation processes. It is suggested that implementation be viewed as a separate phase in a total technology transfer process, with clear analytic distinction from both innovation adoption and evaluation of outcomes. A framework for developing measures of implementation is presented, based on distinguishing among four classes of innovations: policy change innovations; multiple component innovations; multiple user innovations; and mixed type innovations.

Are the Level of Institutionalization Scales Ready for "Prime Time"? A Commentary on "Development of Level of Institutionalization (LoIn) Scales for Health Promotion Programs"

on the organizational context surrounding the delivery of health promotion programs, specifically on the topic of institutionalization. The authors justify well the need for researchers to pay more attention to institutionalization, the extent to which a program is integrated into the &dquo;normal&dquo; operations of an agency. They point out that even well-developed programs that effectively meet their objectives are not necessarily sustained by the delivering organization. In order to advance research on the meaning and processes of institutionalization, the paper presents an instrument for measuring the level of institutionalization (LoIn) of health promotion programs. The conceptual material underlying the instrument contributes strong advances to understanding the possible nature of institutionalization. Yet the LoIn scales, as do any instruments in the early stages of development, have weaknesses. This commentary explores two fundamental questions in health education research evident in the LoIn study: How do we achieve optimally valid and reliable scales to measure a complex phenomenon such as institutionalization? Second, in a developing area of research, when are scales ready for widespread use?

Methods used in analyzing human service programs in the military: A status review

The papers collected here illustrate several points of methodological strengths and weaknesses. Methodological issues raised by these papers are discussed in terms of three key topics: the definition and measurement of specific variables, the selection of samples and units of analysis, and their overall research designs.