ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of evaluation. Evaluation is a process that critically examines something. It involves collecting and analysing information about activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Evaluations fall into one of two broad categories: formative and summative. A good evaluation is one that is likely to be replicable, meaning that someone else should be able to conduct the same evaluation and get the same results. S. Duncan says that ‘the weak outcomes of social skills interventions can be attributed to the fact that these interventions often take place in contrived, restricted, and decontextualized’ settings. J. W. Maag theorises that teaching social skills to students with emotional and behavioural difficulties is equivalent to teaching academics. He says that reading or mathematics instruction would not be terminated after a brief, three- to six-week long unit, so nor should the teaching of social skills.
