“If you build it, he will come,” is a famous line from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. People starting a new business hope that people will take advantage of the services they offer. But what happens if the public does not respond as anticipated? How do you determine the needs of the public? How can you target your research efforts to engage certain portions of a population?
Program evaluation procedures can help you identify the needs of a population as you develop programs. It can also help you identify portions of the population who are not accessing services once a program is implemented. In this assignment, you examine issues related to access to services and how program evaluation procedures can be used to address those issues, and you evaluate a meta-analysis of marriage and relationship education programs.
The assignment: (2?3 pages)
? Review the article, “Does Marriage and Relationship Education Work? A Meta-Analytic Study,” and provide a brief summary of the issues related to disadvantaged and ethnically diverse populations.
? How would you as a researcher increase participation of disadvantaged and ethnically diverse populations in marriage and relationship education programs?
? What types of measures and data collection methods would you employ to obtain more reliable and generalizable results?
Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are required to provide a reference list and to appropriately cite, in APA style, all references used within your assignment.
Program Evaluation
Introduction
To obtain accreditation, graduate degree programs in counseling must demonstrate that they have met the requirements of the accreditation process. In order to meet this accreditation goal, programs must undertake a self-study. This self-study involves an examination of curriculum, interviews with students, alumni, faculty, and other stakeholders, a review of learning outcomes, exploration of data related to employment of graduates, and other related components. This is a complex process and cannot be completed quickly. In fact, it is a process that should be started at the inception of a program and continued throughout the program’s existence. This process is known as program evaluation.
While the example above is related to accreditation of a graduate program in counseling, the program evaluation process is important for every practicing counselor. Up to now, you have learned about applying the results of research to your individual practice. It is also important to learn how to use research skills to evaluate the types of programs you deliver as a practicing counselor. Regardless of counseling specialization, you may find that you have to demonstrate that your overall counseling program (e.g., violence prevention, drug prevention, divorce recovery, or pre-marital counseling) is effective.
This week, you examine the process of program evaluation for counseling-related activities.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
? Construct items for a needs assessment questionnaire
? Design next steps in program evaluation
Readings
? Course Text: Counseling Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods
?
o Chapter 12, “Systematic Program Evaluation”
? Article: Calley, N. (2009). Comprehensive program development in mental health counseling: Design, implementation, and evaluation. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 31(1), 9?21.
? Article: Hawkins, A., Blanchard, V., Baldwin, S., & Fawcett, E. (2008). Does marriage and relationship education work? A meta-analytic study.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(5), 723?7 34.
