Evaluating Human Service Outcomes

This all-in-one text assists human service practitioners, and the students of human service educational programs, in the evaluation of their practice with their clients. It takes readers through the entire research process, step by step, starting with the literature review on the nature of the behavior being served, to the development of their study methods, to the statistical analysis of data using the internet and, finally, to the drawing of conclusions based on the outcome study that was conducted. When readers complete this book, they will be prepared to conduct an outcome evaluation study and to present a report to their agencies or instructors.

Key distinctions of this text include:

• guides for analysis of data using Excel, the internet or SPSS for statistical analysis of data;
• the separation of content into basic concepts and intermediate concepts for use in beginning and intermediate courses in human service research methods;
• an instructor's manual that offers outlines, lists, and test questions additional to those in the text;
• a student workbook with practice assignments for use in courses as well as a set of checklists that serve as a guide for various tasks in the research process; and
• objectives, summaries, and tests in all chapters.

Evaluating Human Service Outcomes could be used as the basic text for a beginning course in human service research in educational programs in social work, counseling, and psychology where a major goal is to complete a research study. It could also be used as a supplemental text for advanced research courses that include the analysis of data. The text also should be of interest to human service practitioners who are working in programs funded by grants that require outcome evaluation.

Chapter 1:The Essence of Outcome Evaluation. - Chapter 2: Developing

Your Knowledge Base. - Chapter 3: Developing the Methods for Your Outcome Study. - Chapter 4: Collecting and Analyzing Your Data. - Chapter 5: Using the Internet to Analyze Your Outcome Data. - Chapter 6: Using SPSS to Analyze Your Outcome Data. - Chapter 7: Using Special Excel Files to Analyze Your Outcome Data. - Chapter 8: Describing Clients. - Chapter 9: Explaining Client Outcome. - Chapter 10: Getting Ideas on How to Improve Service Using Qualitative Surveys. - Chapter 11: Writing Your Research Report. - Chapter 12: Facing the Challenges of Outcome Evaluation.