A systematic process to facilitate evidence-informed decisionmaking regarding program expansion : the RAND toolkit, volume 3 / Laurie T. Martin, Coreen Farris, David M. Adamson, Robin M. Weinick.

By:

Martin, Laurie T [author.]

Contributor(s):

Publisher: Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 2014Description: xvi, 70 pages ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

computer
unmediated

Carrier type:

online resource
volume

ISBN:

0833084178 (pbk. : alk. paper)
9780833084170 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Electronic books.

LOC classification:

UH629.3 .M38 2014

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Available additional physical forms:

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.

Contents:

Introduction -- Assessing Programs for Possible Expansion -- Quality of Evaluation -- Program Effectiveness -- Population and Policy Priorities -- Decisionmaking Regarding Program Expansion -- Appendix A: Program Abstraction Form -- Appendix B: The RAND Program Expansion Tool and Instruction Manual -- Appendix C: Instruction Manual for the RAND Program Assessment Tool.

Summary: While the Department of Defense supports more than 200 psychological health and traumatic brain injury programs, it lacks an approach and process to systematically develop, track, and assess the performance of this portfolio of programs. Further, there is not yet a uniform approach to decisionmaking around program support and expansion of particularly promising, evidence-based programs. This lack of centralized oversight may result in the proliferation of untested programs that are developed without an evidence base; an inefficient use of resources; and added cost and administrative inefficiencies. RAND researchers developed a potential model and tools to support a centralized, systematic, and ongoing process to help in making decisions around continued program support, and by which expansion can be facilitated. This report includes two tools. The first is a Program Abstraction Form, which collects relevant background information from programs and asks explicitly about program effectiveness and the design of the program evaluation used to assess program effectiveness, as a poor evaluation design may lead to incorrect conclusions about the effectiveness of the program. The second is the RAND Program Expansion Tool, which provides a standardized summary of the quality and outcome of a program evaluation. The focus of these tools is on decisionmaking around program expansion, and does not preclude or address initial funding decisions of particularly promising new programs that may not yet have a solid evidence base.

Item type:

eBooks

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"RAND National Defense Research Institute."

"This research was ... conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute"--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70).

While the Department of Defense supports more than 200 psychological health and traumatic brain injury programs, it lacks an approach and process to systematically develop, track, and assess the performance of this portfolio of programs. Further, there is not yet a uniform approach to decisionmaking around program support and expansion of particularly promising, evidence-based programs. This lack of centralized oversight may result in the proliferation of untested programs that are developed without an evidence base; an inefficient use of resources; and added cost and administrative inefficiencies. RAND researchers developed a potential model and tools to support a centralized, systematic, and ongoing process to help in making decisions around continued program support, and by which expansion can be facilitated. This report includes two tools. The first is a Program Abstraction Form, which collects relevant background information from programs and asks explicitly about program effectiveness and the design of the program evaluation used to assess program effectiveness, as a poor evaluation design may lead to incorrect conclusions about the effectiveness of the program. The second is the RAND Program Expansion Tool, which provides a standardized summary of the quality and outcome of a program evaluation. The focus of these tools is on decisionmaking around program expansion, and does not preclude or address initial funding decisions of particularly promising new programs that may not yet have a solid evidence base.

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.