ABSTRACT
Effective social workers can monitor the effects of interventions and evaluate their overall impact on clients and client systems. This chapter shows how theoretical knowledge can usefully guide practitioners in the competent achievement of these and other evaluation tasks. It reviews some basic ideas about social work evaluation. Social workers evaluate the effectiveness of their direct work with an individual, group, family, or other social system. They often use a single system design (SSD) for this purpose. Neuman identifies three distinct scientific paradigms and their philosophical stances regarding inquiry and evaluation. Each paradigm includes a different approach to evaluation. The Council on Social Work Education also expects social workers to demonstrate a critical thinking competency. This includes the ability to analyze models of evaluation. The Fishers and their colleagues provide an exemplary report on the use of theory as a framework for evaluation of STD and HIV prevention programs geared toward inner city minority adolescents.
