Assessing the Impact of Planned Social Change

Campbell · Measurement & Method · Evaluation and Program Planning · 1979 · Paywalled

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A foundational text in programme evaluation methodology, addressing the problem that planned social interventions rarely produce their intended effects cleanly — and that the complexity of historical change makes attribution deeply difficult. Introduces the concept of the 'experimenting society' and argues for quasi-experimental designs as the honest alternative to either randomised trials or unevaluated implementation. Essential background for anyone making empirical claims about PS interventions: the question 'did this work?' is almost always harder to answer than it looks, and Campbell's framework explains why.

Campbell, D.T. (1979) 'Assessing the impact of planned social change', Evaluation and Program Planning, 2(1), pp. 67–90.

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