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CLASSIFICATION AND MONITORING

Performance Monitoring and Evaluation

College of Public and Community Service

University of Massachusetts at Boston

©2006 William Holmes

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ASSIGNMENT 3:REQUIREMENTS

• Causal assumptions regarding people and services

• Theoretical basis• Strengths and weaknesses of theoretical basis• Example of how changing causal assumption

would change program• Pros and Cons of changing assumption

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ASSIGNMENT 3THEORETICFAL BASIS 1

• Utilitarianism

• Economic Materialism (Capitalism and Marxism)

• Socialization

• Symbolic Interactionism

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ASSIGNMENT 3THEORETICFAL BASIS 2

• Psychoanalytic

• Biosocial

• Cognitive Psychology

• Systems Theory

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ASSIGNMENT 3STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES 1

• Utilitarianism—emotions and role of values

• Materialism—wealth, altruism, and religion

• Socialization—learning and motivation

• Symbolic Interactionism—physical vs. social reality

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ASSIGNMENT 3STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES 2

• Psychoanalytic—individualism and society

• Biosocial—biology and free will

• Cognitive Psychology—anticipation and spontaneity

• Systems Theory—interconnected units

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ASSIGNMENT 2 PRESENTATIONS

• Identify self

• Identify program and goals

• Summarize descriptive procedures used

• Discuss strengths and weaknesses

• Propose some improvements

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WE CLASSIFY IN MONITORING BECAUSE IT

• Reveals Structure

• Reveals Process

• Promotes Effectiveness

• Promotes Efficiency

• Provides Meaningful Distinctions

• Aids Decisionmaking

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LIMITATIONS OF CLASSIFYING

• Meaning of categories may be unclear

• Categories may be incomplete (not exhaustive)

• Categories may overlap (not be exclusive)

• Breaks between categories may be arbitrary

• Differences may be continuous, rather than discrete

• There may be sub-categories

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ISSUES IN USING NATURAL CATEGORIES

• Completeness—are some overlooked?

• Exclusiveness—do some overlap?

• Consistency—are they logically consistent?

• Dimensionality—are they unidimensional or multidimensional?

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USES OF CATEGORIESFOR ASSESSING MERIT

• Clarification of criteria for merit

• Triage, referral, and diversion

• Conformance with standards

• Success recognition

• Failure assessment

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USES OF CATEGORIESFOR IDENTIFYING BEST PRACTICES

• Classifying as best practice

• Forensic analysis of best practice

• Forensic analysis of worst practices

• Dissemination of successes

• Discouraging for failures

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USES OF CATEGORIESFOR OVERSIGHT AND COMPLIANCE

• Targeting prescribed categories

• Avoiding proscribed categories

• Simplified reporting

• Simplified evaluation

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PROCEDURES FOR CREATING CATEGORIES 1

• Inductive versus deductive procedures

• Expert Judgments

• Natural Categories

• Qualitative versus quantitative procedures

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PROCEDURES FOR CREATING CATEGORIES 2

• Choice of qualitative procedures—observation, content analysis, a priori

• Choice of quantitative procedures—cluster analysis, factor analysis

• Choice of deductive taxonomies