ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on effectiveness as applied to ‘examining processes and outcomes that reflect change associated with practitioner interventions’. Measuring effectiveness, as it relates to intervention, is an important topic for several reasons. Increasing the documentation of effectiveness can help bolster the confidence of the profession, with evidence for positive outcomes associated with social work interventions found across various demanding social problems. In the research context, ‘effectiveness’ is distinguished from ‘efficacy’, with efficacy studies testing interventions under ideal research conditions. Moreover, the effectiveness of a practice intervention is rarely established with a single study, but rather through an aggregation of research involving different types of studies. The chapter also addresses quasi-experimental designs, and then randomised controlled trials. This will be followed by a brief mention of single case experimental designs, natural experiments and the role of qualitative research.
