ABSTRACT
This chapter is about evaluating the outcomes of work with clients. More specifically, it is about the ethics of evaluating those outcomes, a relatively unexplored area in psychology. The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (APA Code, American Psychological Association, 2002) covers the delivery of services and the conduct of research. If one accepts that ethical service delivery includes evaluation of its effects (cf. Bloom, Fischer, & Orme, 2003), it is reasonable to expect the APA Code to include guidelines for conducting such evaluations. In reality, the code is noticeably silent on this matter, not directly addressing professional behavior unique to outcomes evaluation. It does provide suggestions regarding some of the activities comprised in such evaluation, however, those coming both from guidelines dealing with service delivery and those having to do with research, We will argue later, however, that the ethical delivery of services as defined by the APA Code does indeed necessitate evaluation.
