Social Evaluations

Reviews the book, The Evaluation of Social Programs edited by Clark C. Abt (1976). This book transcribes the formal and informal proceedings of a 1974 conference sponsored by Abt Associates. It is a convenient compendium of ideas and experience about social program evaluation. It differs refreshingly from most discussions of social evaluation, in that the consequences of evaluation are addressed. While the book addresses most major issues of social evaluation, an uneven emphasis results in some concepts being touched on and others heavily analyzed. The book conveys the spirit of the conference many readers may wish they had attended and hope to be invited to the next one. By providing a comprehensive discussion of issues rather than a synthesis, the book will probably be more useful to people in the field of social program evaluation than to outsiders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)