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Program Evaluation Glossary
"B"
- Backfill Techniques
- Techniques used in cumulative case studies to collect information
needed if the study is to be usable for aggregation; these
techniques include, for example, obtaining missing information
from the authors on how instances studied were identified
and selected.
- Baseline Data
- Initial information on a program or program components collected
prior to receipt of services or participation activities.
Baseline data are often gathered through intake interviews
and observations and are used later for comparing measures
that determine changes in a program.
- Batch
- A group of cases for which no assumptions are made about
how the cases are selected. A batch may be a population, a
probability sample, or a nonprobability sample, but the data
are analyzed as if the origin of the data is not known..
- Before-After Designs
- The elementary quasi-experimental design known as the before-after
design involves the measurement of "outcome" indicators
(e.g., arrest rates, attitudes) prior to implementation of
the treatment, and subsequent re-measurement after implementation.
Any change in the measure is attributed to the treatment.
This design provides a significant improvement over the one-shot
study because it measures change in the factor(s) to be impacted.
However, this design suffers from threats of history - the
possibility that some alternate factor (besides the treatment)
has actually caused the change.
- Bell-Shaped Curve
- A distribution with roughly the shape of a bell; often used
in reference to the normal distribution but others, such as
the t distribution, are also bell-shaped.
- Benchmarking
- Measuring progress toward a goal at intervals prior to the
anticipated attainment of the goal.
- Benchmarks
- Measures of progress toward a goal, taken at intervals prior
to the program's completion or the anticipated attainment
of the final goal.
- Benefits
- Net program outcomes, usually translated into monetary terms. Benefits may include both direct and indirect costs.
- Best Practices
- New ideas or lessons learned about effective program activities that have been
developed and implemented in the field and have been shown to produce positive
outcomes.
- Between-Group Variances
- Indications of how the mean and variances of each group differ
from the other groups
- Bias
- The extent to which a measurement, sampling, or analytic
method systematically underestimates or overestimates the
true value of an attribute. FOR EXAMPLE, words, sentence structure,
attitudes, and mannerisms may unfairly influence a respondent's
answer to a question. Bias in questionnaire data can stem
from a variety of other factors, including choice of words,
sentence structure, and the sequence of questions.
- Biased Sample
- A sample that is not representative of the population to
which generalizations are to be made.
- Binary Variables
- A variable that identifies the presence or absence of a trait,
characteristic, opinion, etc.; a "yes/no" variables
- Bivariate Analysis
- An analysis of the relationship between two variables.
- Bivariate Data
- Information about two variables.
- Black Box Evaluation
- Evaluation of program outcomes without the benefit of an articulated program theory to provide insight into what is presumed to be causing those outcomes and why.
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