There is an extensive literature on Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), but the publications are widely scattered and often inaccessible, covering several foreign countries and many professional disciplines and fields of application. This book provides both a user manual and a complete reference work on GAS, including a comprehensive account of what the method is, what its strengths and limitations are, how it can be used, and what it can offer. The book is designed to be of interest to service providers, program directors and administrators, service and business organizations, program evaluators, researchers, and students in a variety of fields. No previous account of GAS has provided an up-to-date, comprehensive description and explanation of the technique. The chapters include a basic "how to do it" handbook, step-by-step implementation instructions, frequently occurring problems and what should be done about them, methods for monitoring the quality of the goal setting process, and a discussion of policy and administration issues. There are many illustrations from actual applications including examples of goals scaled for the individual, the specific program, the agency, or the total system. Procedures for training and estimates of training costs are also provided.

There is an extensive literature on Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), but the publications are widely scattered and often inaccessible, covering several foreign countries and many professional disciplines and fields of application. This book provides both a user manual and a complete reference work on GAS, including a comprehensive account of what the method is, what its strengths and limitations are, how it can be used, and what it can offer. The book is designed to be of interest to service providers, program directors and administrators, service and business organizations, program evaluators, researchers, and students in a variety of fields. No previous account of GAS has provided an up-to-date, comprehensive description and explanation of the technique. The chapters include a basic "how to do it" handbook, step-by-step implementation instructions, frequently occurring problems and what should be done about them, methods for monitoring the quality of the goal setting process, and a discussion of policy and administration issues. There are many illustrations from actual applications including examples of goals scaled for the individual, the specific program, the agency, or the total system. Procedures for training and estimates of training costs are also provided.

Written to provide clinicians, educators, researchers, and students in rehabilitation with a comprehensive overview of the theory, practice, and evidence base of goal setting, this first-of-its-kind reference provides an authoritative, state-of-the-art knowledge of the practice. The authors cover a broad range of different approaches to goal setting, with input from experts from North America, Europe, and Australia. This book is applicable to patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury, neurological disorders, spinal cord injury, and other conditions.

This book combines an overview of validity theory, trends in validation practices and a review of standards and guidelines in several international jurisdictions with research synthesis of the validity evidence in different research areas. An overview of theory is both useful and timely, in view of the increased use of tests and measures for decision-making, ranking and policy purposes in large-scale testing, assessment and social indicators and quality of life research. Research synthesis is needed to help us assemble, critically appraise and integrate the overwhelming volume of research on validity in different contexts. Rather than examining whether any given measure is “valid”, the focus is on a critical appraisal of the kinds of validity evidence reported in the published research literature. The five sources of validity evidence discussed are: content-related, response processes, internal structure, associations with other variables and consequences. The 15 syntheses included here, represent a broad sampling of psychosocial, health, medical and educational research settings, giving us an extensive evidential basis to build upon earlier studies. The book concludes with a meta-synthesis of the 15 syntheses and a discussion of the current thinking of validation practices by leading experts in the field.

"This book describes the development and standardization of a new evaluation system entitled the Progress Evaluation Scales (PES). This approach to evaluation was developed in order to overcomes some of the major problems noted in other evaluation systems. The PES is made up of seven scales, each consisting of five levels, with the characteristics of each level described. Four slightly different versions of the scales are available to accommodate children, adolescent, and adult mental-health clients and, additionally, the developmentally disabled"--Page xix.

Provides a broad overview of current rehabilitation approaches, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary management and focussing on deliverable outcomes.

This text provides an introduction to the theory and practice of internal evaluation. It presents the stages of internal evaluation growth, ways of identifying users' needs and selecting appropriate evaluation methods.