ABSTRACT
Evaluators seeking direction to guide their thinking in the 21st century about the evaluation of social problems and their solutions would benefit by being cognizant of both the old things that we will carry with us into the new millenium, as well as the new things that challenge and aid us in this endeavor. A litany of social problems in the United States and around the world might seem old-crime, violence, poverty, illiteracy, un-and underemployment, disease, and drug and alcohol abuse. Yet, even in making this list within the context of the “old”, it suggests that evaluators have an important role in the new millenium related to challenging the status quo in terms of the seeming intransigence of these problems, the inferred inadequacy of interventions in the face of their persistence, and the need to adopt a stance that is more conducive to uncovering the variables that contribute to these problems and to their solutions.
