Evaluation Fundamentals: Insights into the Outcomes, Effectiveness, and Quality of Health Programs

by Arlene Fink

Now in its Second Edition , the book contains an added emphasis on outcomes, effectiveness, and quality of evaluations. Author Arlene Fink teaches the basic concepts and vocabulary necessary to do program evaluations and to review the quality of evaluation research so as to make informed decisions about methods and outcomes. Among the topics the book covers is how to justify evaluation questions and set standards of effectiveness, design studies, and conduct ethical research. The book contains numerous examples of evaluation methods as well as evaluation reports. It also includes practice exercises and suggested readings in print and online.

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2004

About the author

Arlene Fink (Ph.D.) is Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, and president of the Langley Research Institute. Her main interests include evaluation and survey research and the conduct of research literature reviews as well as the evaluation of their quality. Dr. Fink has conducted scores of literature reviews and evaluation studies in public health, medicine, and education. She is on the faculty of UCLA's Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and is a scientific and evaluation advisor to UCLA's Gambling Studies and IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling & Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) programs. She consults nationally and internationally for agencies such as L'institut de Promotion del la Prevention Secondaire en Addictologie (IPPSA) in Paris, France, and Peninsula Health in Victoria, Australia. Professor Fink has taught and lectured extensively all over the world and is the author of over 135 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbooks.