A Good Story, Well Told: Rules for Evaluating Human Services Programs.

The article discusses rules for evaluating human services programs. Evaluation is a vital enterprise for social programs. Well-done evaluations are helpful for program administrators, program workers, clients, policymakers, and the public at large in whose name the program is conducted. Evaluations are only of use if they provide ad- equate information, but many are based on designs that are not properly rigorous. A study of 2,231 outcome evaluations published during a 10-year period indicated that over two-thirds used no comparison group and that more than a third were post test-only case studies. Some of the blame for this situation can be laid at the feet of evaluators who do not know how to do a better job, but this part of the problem is probably fading. Most program administrators have access to competent evaluators through faculty of local universities or independent consultants. The article offers a few rules of evaluation practice wisdom that have been honed through years of consulting and teaching courses about evaluation. Although presented in a lighthearted way, these rules, if followed, would result in more rigorous and useful evaluations.