This study examined the effect of variations of program evaluation purpose and methodology on decision-making information needs of various stakeholders. Respondents provided one of three levels of service in the context of early childhood special education. The results generally supported the...

Evaluation research suggests that audience characteristics affect the use of evaluation information. Two factors that influence the lay public's need for educational evaluation information are voting habits and parental status. This article examines the relationship between participant voting...

This study asked three questions: (a) What ethical principles are available to guide program evaluators? (b) how do the standards developed by the Joint Committee on Standards match up with ethical principles? and (c) what are the implications for refinement of the standards, training...

This experimental study examined the interactions of potential loss, time, and self-efficacy of the program manager on need for information in an evaluation decision. The theoretical framework was provided by Janis and Mann's conflict decision-making model and by self-efficacy theory. The sample...

Communication theory suggests that the effectiveness of a communication is related to who says what, how, and to whom. This study, using a communication theory paradigm, examined the impact of different simulated evaluation report styles (use of jargon and data) on audience (educators) agreement...

this study investigated the effect that several key contextual variables had on the information needs and uses by a national sample of school boards and administrators. The factors included (I) the quality of the decision to be made, (2) the amount of personal conflict involved, (3) the content...

This study uses a series of items, derived from the Joint Committee Standards, to examine the frequency and seriousness of violations in program evaluations. Each item represents one of the 30 standards and reflects the pitfalls or common errors accorded to that standard. Respondents to the...

There is now a body of research available that suggests that the personal characteristics of decision makers influence how information is used. One characteristic that influences use of information is sense or locus of control in the decision-making context. This article presents three studies...