ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a list of questions that can be used for for evaluating published studies, and which may also be useful when planning a new study. A good study will have a clearly articulated conceptual model, i.e., be able to state what it is that the intervention is trying to change (the dependent variable), what is being manipulated to bring about that change (the intervention), what is the presumed mechanism of change, and what is the expected time course of change. Unfortunately, many studies are simply too small to demonstrate intervention effects. Enthusiasm to show that an intervention works often propels people into doing studies that may involve considerable time, money, and resources, yet are unlikely to show an effect, even if it is really there.
