Chapter 5: Quantitative Research Design and Education Policy Evaluation

The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss some of the most prevalent quantitative research strategies used by education policy evaluation researchers. Although the purpose of any study may vary, there are some common strategies researchers use to ascertain the effectiveness of any policy goal. Usually, such a policy objective has a program with a theory embedded, providing a roadmap that outlines the activities that allege to produce certain outcomes. As a consequence of program implementation, the outcomes should produce what the specific policy goal intended (Stone, 1997). In doing policy evaluation, researchers often evaluate these programs that have been created to support the specific policy objective. For example, a specific policy may be one that the government desires to improve the mortality rates of children from families with a low economic status. Thus, the legislature may dictate a particular policy direction and allocate resources to improve child mortality. Then, a state agency operationalizes this policy by building a specific health program to target that specific population. Later the program is implemented, and after some time, a policy evaluator is hired to make sense of its effectiveness. The policy evaluator uses a standardized set of techniques to assesses the policy/program goals, documents, and outcomes according to the strategy used in the implementation of it.