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Improving Evaluation of Anticrime Programs (2005) / Chapter Skim
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6 What Organizational Infrastructure and Procedures Support High-Quality Evaluation?
Pages 54-60

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From page 54...
... The evolving political agenda must be understood as well so that policy makers' need for information about criminal justice programs can be anticipated to the extent possible. One important organizational implication of this circumstance is that agencies supporting evaluation research must have effective ongoing mechanisms for obtaining input from practitioners, policy makers, and researchers about priorities for program evaluation.
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From page 55...
... AGENCY STAFF RESPONSIBLE FOR EVALUATION Given well-developed priorities for evaluation, the functions related to developing and supporting quality evaluations include more than the ability to assemble and work with qualified review panels. As discussed in the previous chapter, formulation of an RFP that provides clear and detailed guidance for development of strong evaluation proposals, and the preliminary site visits, feasibility studies, or evaluability assessments that may be necessary to do that well can also be significant to the ultimate quality and successful implementation of impact evaluations.
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From page 56...
... Such a unit would also require staff with research backgrounds as well as practical experience and sufficient continuity to develop expertise in the essential functions particular to the programs and evaluations of the agency. RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND EVALUATION OPPORTUNITIES Given limited resources for evaluating criminal justice programs and policies, opportunities for agencies to leverage resources through collaborative relationships with other organizations offer potential advantages.
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From page 57...
... A relevant function for major funders of criminal justice evaluations, therefore, is to exercise what influence and advocacy they can to encourage agencies that fund programs, including their own, to require participation in evaluation when asked unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. A related function is to facilitate participation by offering effective incentives to the candidate programs and supporting them in ways that help minimize any disruption or inconvenience associated with participation in an impact evaluation.
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From page 58...
... Potentially encompassed in critical reviews are re-analyses of the data using different models or assumptions and attempts to reconcile divergent findings across evaluation studies. Scrutiny at this level of detail, and the value of what can be learned from that endeavor, of course, are dependent upon access to the data collected in the evaluation.
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From page 59...
... Indeed, a promising model for managing evaluation research is to combine ongoing research synthesis and meta-analysis by agency staff or contractors, funding of studies in identified gaps in the knowledge base, and occasional larger scale studies in areas where resolving uncertainty is of high value. DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING THE TOOLS FOR EVALUATION Conducting high-quality impact evaluations of criminal justice programs is often hampered by methodological limitations.
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From page 60...
... As with measurement issues, there is much that agencies interested in high-quality impact evaluations could do to advance methodological improvement in evaluation design, and at relatively modest cost. Designside studies could be added to large evaluation projects; for instance, small quasi-experimental control groups of different sorts to compare with randomized controls and supplementary data collections that allowed exploration of potentially important control variables for statistical modeling.
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Key Terms

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  • data collections
  • collaborative relationships
  • program effectiveness

  • methodological development
  • relevant function
  • sponsoring agency
  • randomized designs
  • impact studies

  • measuring criminal
  • managing evaluation
  • evaluating criminal
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  • multiple impact
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  • justice outcomes


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