Trying to Do More Good Than Harm in Policy and Practice: The Role of Rigorous, Transparent, Up-to-Date Evaluations

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 589, S. 22-40

Abstract

Because professionals sometimes do more harm than good when they intervene in the lives of other people, their policies & practices should be informed by rigorous, transparent, up-to-date evaluations. Surveys often reveal wide variations in the type & frequency of practice & policy interventions, & this evidence of collective uncertainty should prompt the humility that is a precondition for rigorous evaluation. Evaluation should begin with systematic assessment of as high a proportion as possible of existing relevant, reliable research, & then, if appropriate, additional research. Systematic, up-to-date reviews of research -- such as those that the Cochrane & Campbell Collaborations endeavor to prepare & maintain -- are designed to minimize the likelihood that the effects of interventions will be confused with the effects of biases & chance. Policy makers & practitioners can choose whether, & if so how, they wish their policies & practices to be informed by research. They should be clear, however, that the lives of other people will often be affected by the validity of their judgments. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]