Randomized Field Experiments for Program Planning, Development, and Evaluation

Rf, Boruch; Aj, Mcsweeny; Ej, Soderstrom

doi:10.1177/0193841x7800200411

Cited by 69 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…RCTs are typically considered the best method for eliminating threats to internal validity in evaluating social policies and programs (Berk et al 1985;Boruch et al 1978;Campbell 1969;Campbell and Stanley 1963;Dennis and Boruch 1989). RCTs provide a strong counterfactual description of what would have happened to the treatment group if they had not been exposed to the treatment (Rubin 1974;Holland 1986).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring gender differences in dating violence/harassment prevention programming in middle schools: results from a randomized experiment

Taylor

Stein

Burden³

2010

J Exp Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we randomly assigned 123 sixth and seventh grade classrooms from seven middle schools in the greater Cleveland area to one of two five-session curricula addressing gender violence/sexual harassment (GV/SH) or to a no-treatment control group. A baseline survey and two follow-up surveys were administered immediately after the treatment (Wave 2) and about six months posttreatment (Wave 3). In an earlier paper, we demonstrated the effectiveness of two approaches to youth GV/SH prevention programming (a fact-based, law and justice curriculum and an interaction-based curriculum). In this paper, we explored whether these largely positive findings remain for both girls and boys, including whether girls experience higher levels of GV/SH than boys. Most of our statistical models proved to be non-statistically significant. However, in 2 of our 48 victimization/ perpetration (any violence, sexual violence and non-sexual violence) models (across two post-intervention follow-up points), we observed that the interventions reduced peer (male or female, non-dating partner) sexual violence victimization and reduced peer perpetration, but another outcome model indicated that the interventions increased dating perpetration. These mixed findings will need to be explored further in future research. Regarding our primary research question, we observed no statistically significant differences for the treatment multiplied by gender interaction terms for any of the perpetration or victimization outcome models, suggesting that the treatment had similar effects on girls and boys. However, we did observe that boys are more involved in violence than girls: both as victims and perpetrators. Boys experienced significantly more of three types of victimization from peers and dating partners compared to what girls experienced at the hands of their peers and dating partners. As perpetrators, boys committed more sexual victimization against peers (immediately post-intervention only) and more sexual victimization against dating partners than girls. The implications of these results are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring gender differences in dating violence/harassment prevention programming in middle schools: results from a randomized experiment

Taylor

Stein

Burden³

2010

J Exp Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The problem with these types of studies is that although measured differences can be statistically controlled, the many unmeasured variables related to the outcome variable (e.g., susceptibility to change) cannot be controlled. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are typically thought of as the best method for eliminating threats to internal validity in evaluating social policies and programs (Berk et al 1985;Boruch, et al 1978;Campbell 1969;Campbell and Stanley 1963;Dennis and Boruch 1989;Riecken, et al 1974). RCTs provide the best counterfactual describing what would have happened to the treatment group if it had not been exposed to the treatment (Rubin 1974;Holland 1986).…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

A randomized controlled trial of different policing strategies at hot spots of violent crime

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Focusing police efforts on "hot spots" has gained acceptance among researchers and practitioners. However, little rigorous evidence exists on the comparative effectiveness of different hot spots strategies. To address this gap, we randomly assigned 83 hot spots of violence in Jacksonville, Florida, to receive either a problem-oriented policing (POP) strategy, directed-saturation patrol, or a control condition for 90 days. We then examined crime in these areas during the intervention period and a 90-day postintervention period. In sum, the use of POP was associated with a 33% reduction in "street violence" during the 90 days following the intervention. While not statistically significant, we also observed that POP was associated with other non-trivial reductions in violence and property crime during the post-intervention period. In contrast, we did not detect statistically significant crime reductions for the directed-saturation patrol group, though there were non-significant declines in crime in these areas during the intervention period. Tests for displacement or a diffusion of benefits provided indications that violence was displaced to areas near the POP locations, though some patterns in the data suggest this may have been due to the effects of POP on crime reporting by citizens in nearby areas. We conclude by discussing the study's limitations and the implications of the findings for efforts to refine hot spots policing.

show abstract

“…Forsetlund, Chalmers, and Bjorndal (2007) used bibliographic methods to try and track down the earliest publications reporting experimental studies of social interventions. Petrosino (2003) listed numerous examples of RCTs in the field of childhood intervention in the human services, and Boruch (1974) and Boruch, McSweeney, and Soderstrom (1978) tabulated the use of RCTs in social evaluation studies. The present bibliography is offered as a further contribution along these lines in the hope that it will be of service to future scholars in the field of research on social work practice and to provide inspiration to social workers contemplating undertaking an experimental investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bibliography of Randomized Controlled Experiments in Social Work (1949–2013)

Thyer

2015

Research on Social Work Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A strong theme in the social work literature contends that randomized experiments are an impractical, inappropriate, unethical, and rarely undertaken research method for use in social work. In a test of this claim, the author undertook a review of the Englishlanguage published literature and prepared a provisional bibliography of primary social work studies that used experimental methodology. Astonishingly, over 740 such studies were located, with the first being published in 1949. The existence of this large experimental social work literature has been largely unrecognized, in part, because much of it has appeared in a diverse array of journals associated with other disciplines. It is no longer tenable to claim that experiments are either impractical or inappropriate as a social work research method of value in making causal inferences. This bibliography will be amended in coming years, and subsequent analyses of the types of problems and interventions, which are the focus of these studies, will add to the empirical foundations of social work practice.

show abstract

Randomized Field Experiments for Program Planning, Development, and Evaluation

Cited by 69 publications

References 1 publication

Exploring gender differences in dating violence/harassment prevention programming in middle schools: results from a randomized experiment

Exploring gender differences in dating violence/harassment prevention programming in middle schools: results from a randomized experiment

A randomized controlled trial of different policing strategies at hot spots of violent crime

A Bibliography of Randomized Controlled Experiments in Social Work (1949–2013)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About