ABSTRACT

Lewis Coser cites a pair of what he calls "baroque aphorisms." On the one hand the mathematician Niels Abel argues: "It appears that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils." Missionary-type clinical idealists played a critical role in the development of modem evaluation research. Furthermore, this position neglects not only the role of clinicians and idealists in the development of modem evaluation research but also the historical and continuing political quality of all program evaluation. Chapin and Stuart Dodd were among those said to be responsible for the transformation of sociology from a reformist social movement into an empirical and statistical science. Howard Meyers of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) reports an extensive research program under the auspices of that agency (1935). Since social programs address themselves to social change, it seems appropriate for sociologists to be involved in the measurement of the effects of such programs.