rilE HANDBOOK: ITS PURPOSE AND ORGANIZATION<br >~LMER L. STRUENING<br > and<br >dARCIA GUTrENTAG<br > INTRODUCTION<br > Tile successful completion of an evaluation research study may be con.<br >optualized as a sequence of events， a process through time， or a series of steps，<br >ach demanding a certain level of perflmnance if 01o study is to meet standards of<br >~plieation， to be accepted by the scientific community， and to be applied by<br >lannors and administrators.<br > Each of tile steps involved in completing an evaluation study is a point of<br >~lnerabilily which， if not sturdily constructed， will create an end result that is<br >tvalid and unusable. Among the crucial steps involved in compleling evaluation<br >~udlos are tile following: conceptualizing the problem， reviewing relevant litera-<br >Ire， developing a researcll strategy， determining a research design， selecting and<br >lalntalning a sample， choosing measures and assessing their psychometric prop-<br >;!:!as， selecting appropriate personnel to conduct the study， maintaining data<br >~lleetlon standards， analyzing tile data， and comnumicaiing the results. Many<br >ptiolls are open to evaluators as they develop each crucial step in their specilic<br >Bdles. To select options of the highest quality would require a team of experts<br >|oh contributing as it specialist In the development of a particular step， while<br >~qulring a general knowledge of the study as a whole. The luxury of quality advice<br >~r the many facets of evaluation studies is seldom available to evalualors or study<br >[rectors， and they frequenlly make decisions without adequate information or<br >Ifficlont grasp of how their decisions will influence tile outcome of their studies.<br > One purpose of this Haudbook is to provide evaluators wllh a sample of experts.<br >panel of COllsultanls between hard covers， with whom they c~111 colnn|unJcale as<br > ISl<br >