| Session Title: Quantitative Methods: Theory and Design TIG Business Meeting and Expert Lecture: Evaluating Theory-based Evaluation: Information, Norms, and Adherence |
| Business Meeting Session 459 to be held in Pacific C on Thursday, Nov 3, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Sponsored by the Quantitative Methods: Theory and Design TIG |
| TIG Leader(s): |
| Patrick McKnight, George Mason University, pem725@gmail.com |
| George Julnes, University of Baltimore, gjulnes@ubalt.edu |
| Karen Larwin, Youngstown State University, drklarwin@yahoo.com |
| Dale Berger, Claremont Graduate University, dale.berger@cgu.edu |
| Chair(s): |
| Lee Sechrest, University of Arizona, sechrest@u.arizona.edu |
| Presenter(s): |
| Aurelio Figueredo, University of Arizona, ajf@u.arizona.edu |
| Abstract: Programmatic social interventions attempt to produce appropriate social-norm-guided behavior in an open environment. Those efforts will be optimal, however, only if evaluations of those interventions are scientifically sound and cumulative. A marriage of applicable psychological theory, appropriate program evaluation theory, and outcome of evaluations of specific social interventions assures the acquisition of cumulative theory and the production of successful social interventions - the marriage permits us to advance knowledge by making use of both success and failures. We briefly review well-established principles within the field of program evaluation, well-established processes involved in changing social norms and social-norm adherence, the outcome of several program evaluations focusing on smoking prevention, pro-environmental behavior, and rape prevention and, using the principle of learning from our failures, examine why these programs often do not perform as expected. Finally, we discuss the promise of learning from our collective experiences to develop a cumulative science of program evaluation. |