Program Evaluation Assignment 4

The program Evaluation Assignments will focus on ethical and/or practical concerns as well as provide examples of program evaluation research.

Address the following in the first part of the report:
1. Identify the research question in each article.  Using only the research questions, describe the common research thread that connects these articles.  
2. In terms of research methodology, what makes the Des Jarlais article different from those by Tempalski et al. and Kerr et al.?
3. What are the key findings?  
4. Collectively, what are the "big lessons" program evaluators should learn from the research?  Do not give a lesson from each article.  Rather, looking at the three articles as a whole, what are the common themes in terms of lessons learned?

There are three research articles, so you will need to be quite clear and concise–consider integrating them together.

NEP/SEP Research

Des Jarlais, Don C.  "Research, Politics, and Needle Exchange."  American Journal of Public Health; Sep 2000; 90, 9; pg. 1392.

Tempalski, Barbara; Flom, Peter L; Friedman, Samuel R; Des Jarlais, Don, and Judith Friedman.  2007.  "Social and Political Factors Predicting the Presence of Syringe Exchange Programs in 96 US Metropolitan Areas."  American Journal of Public Health; Mar 2007; 97, 3; pg. 437

Kerr, J., Atlas, M., Crabtree, W., Chen, Y.-T., & Moyer, S. (2019). Examining Social–Ecological Factors in Developing the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness Syringe Exchange Program. American Journal of Public Health, 109(3), 454–457. 

In the second part of the report, based on the section in the Program evaluation text, Chapter 13 on "How Might Political Issues Affect A Program Evaluation" discuss briefly the implications politics (as well as the related social/cultural issues) can have not only on the policy process in general and more importantly (and in more detail) how assessment of NEP/SEP are/could be conducted to account for the cultural/political issues as well as how researchers should present findings etc.  This latter part should be 40-50% of the paper. The two parts should be about an equal length. 

By the Program Evaluation Assignment 4 due date, submit a one-page document (single-spaced, 1” margins) that clearly and concisely summarizes the above information of the study as well as the culture and political issues as it related to assessment and what can be done.  Be sure to follow APA and writing academic paper guidelines.  Draw on the provided articles but also from the other academic research (such as the Unit 2 and 3 supplemental readings) as well.

Draw on the provided article but feel free to draw on other academic research as well.

And do not forget the …Required Supplemental Readings (available under Unit 3)Lewis, D. C., Flores, A. R., Haider-Markel, D. P., Miller, P. R., Tadlock, B. L., & Taylor, J. K. (2017). Degrees of Acceptance: Variation in Public Attitudes toward Segments of the LGBT Community. Political Research Quarterly, 70(4), 861–875. Miller, L. R., & Grollman, E. A. (2015). The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications for Discrimination and Health. Sociological Forum, 30(3), 809–831.Schneider, A., & Ingram, H. (1993). Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy. American Political Science Review, 87(2), 334–347.