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>Having said that... At present I'm in the process of cranking up a research
>and evaluation consulting practice. One potential project entails the
>evaluation of a parent training program. The client writes: "We want
>parents to start making changes in their attitudes... hard to do, hard to
>measure."
You don't mention the context: "parent training" in what circumstances?
Could this be classified as an outreach activity? If so, the following
might be of interest:
Kaczmarek P. & Jankowicz A.D. "American students' perceptions of
counselor approachability: professional implications" _International
Journal for the Advancement of Counseling_ 1991, 14, 4
where the argument for outreach-based role-training of clients in
counselling programmes is made.
>Unfortunately, I lost much of my library in a move, but seem to recall
>someone writing about "change grids" several years ago. Does this ring a
>bell with anyone? Anyone have any bright ideas about or experience with
>program evaluation?
My approach to this would be to do two separate grids, before and after,
with a sample of people in which
a) the sample is identical over the two occasions
b) the elements are identical
c) the ratings on elicited constructs which remain the same are
"subtracted" between the two grids for each person; you could then
cluster-analyse the resulting difference grid
d) the presence of new constructs, and the disappearance of old
constructs, are discussed separately from the analysis in c)
with the _proportion_ of constructs like d), to constructs like c), being
an important part of the discussion.
It would be more straightforward to use the initial grid's constructs on
the second occasion rather than eliciting the constructs afresh; but all
you'd pick up here is various degrees of "slot-rattling", rather than
giving your respondents the opportunity to express chnages in the whole
repertoire of constructs. Simply a rating-scale exercise tacked on to a
grid, in fact, rather than a _repertory_ grid exercise!
But I'd be very interested in hearing from colleagues who have thought
this through further!
Kind regards,
Devi Jankowicz
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