About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

PAD-79-1 1 (1978-10-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaayfq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DOCUMENT RESUME 07675 - [(C310498 Audits $ Social Experiments: k Report frepared for the U.S. General Accounting Office. PAD-79-1; B-193022. October 1978. 75 pp. + 5 appendices (36 pp.). Report by Robert F. Baruch, et al., Committee on Evaluation Research. Issue Area: Program Evaluation Systems (2600). Contact: Proqraa Analysis Div. W~qet Function: General Government (800). Orqanization Concern.: Executive Office of the Presidentt Social Science Research Council:, Committee on Evaluation Research. Authority: Congressional Budqet Act Cf 19740 title VII. Under contract with GAO the Social Science Research Council conducted a study on methods and techniques for auditing social experiments. Its report focused on the use of reintervievs and other alternatives for monitozing research qnality, the general problem of quality assurance# and the roles which GAO night take in meeting its oversight responsibility. Findings/Conclusions: There were not onough instances of the use of the reinterview to predict its impact on research participants, but there seems to be a significant risk of its disrupting research. Possible alternatives to reinterviews are the use of: information on research procedures to determine quality, parallel sampling by auditors, surrogate auditors, subsaaple for reinterviews by auditors, and record-linking and other statistical techniques. GAO's possible contrikuticns in so.Aal experiments at various stages of the research and ei/aluation procioss were identified. The potential costs and benefits of audits were considered as applied to researchers, sponsors, and participants in social experiments. The roles of sponsors were discussed with regard to developing and implementizq solicitations, the monitoring of projects, and the dissemination of the project's results. Responsibilities of the researcher were considered in terms of assuring the quality of research. Recommendations: GAO should reccgniie the following: unplanned research, such as reintervie, can disrupt research; a reinterview is often unnecessary, and alternatives can generate statistical information on the quality of data; some projects will require that GAO tecome involved early in the research proccss; and a small scale effort is more justified than a major in-house testing prcgram to assay the effects of reinterview. GAO should prepare a document which claritiis Its likely roles in evaluation of accial experiments, and its oversight rcle should be coordinated with other groups responsible for assuring quality. GO's efforts to report both deficiencies and proficiencies of social experiments were endoreed. GAO should take an active role in helping to develjp guidelines on the management and budgeting of social experiments and cf prcgram

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most