ABSTRACT
What do you think of when you hear the word research? Do you imagine ascientist working in a lab, an economist surrounded by computers andgraphs, or a scholar surrounded by a pile of books? You are right; each is conducting research. But research goes well beyond the work of a scientist, an economist, or a scholar. Research may describe what you do when you decide what computer to buy, what jobs to apply for, or what music to download. It also describes what effective managers and influential stakeholders do when they monitor a program’s performance, determine its effectiveness, and assess the experiences and opinions of its clients. With information gathered from research, managers monitor their programs, publicize their successes, and identify opportunities for program improvement. Stakeholders may use the information to decide what programs to support and what policies to advocate for. Just as you sometimes make decisions, organizations make some decisions quickly with little information. Sometimes, however, decisions are made after gathering as much information as possible and organizing it. This latter approach to research is the subject of this text. We define research as the systematic gathering and analysis of empirical information to answer a question.
