Respond to at least one of your peers. Your responses are expected to be substantive in nature and reference the assigned readings, as well as other theoretical, empirical, or professional literature to support your views and writings. Your response to your peer needs to include at least 2 references,

In the article the authors evaluated multiple services of domestic violence programs in Illinois. They look at the services the programs offered including advocacy they do look at the services the programs offered including ?hotline, counseling, advocacy, and shelter? (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004).

1. What qualitative data did the authors choose to evaluate?

The qualitative data that was chosen to be evaluated were exploring if the participants in the program we're being helped with making healthy decisions, regaining control of their lives as well as rebuilding them, and increasing their self-efficacy (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004). This information was gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Royse, Thayer, & Padgett (2016) describe qualitative evaluations as focusing on naturalistic inquiry and emphasizing narrative over numbers. Using qualitative data that can be gathered through questioning and observing are fundamental in understanding the success or failure of a program (Royse, Thayer, & Padgett, 2016)

2. What quantitative data did they choose to evaluate?

The participants also completed evaluation to scales to measure the outcomes of the program and included items pertaining to the comfort of the shelter and staff respect. The measurements were a 4 or 5 point scale system that had the internal consistency evaluated using the Cronbach?s alpha (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004)

3. Critique the author?s rationale and final decision, referencing considerations offered from the assigned chapters of your textbook. Do you agree or disagree with their rationale?

The authors found that there was increase in all measured outcomes across all of the programs (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004).This included gaining information about violence as well as support, gain improvement in their decision making abilities, increase their coping skills, and feel safe (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004). While I agree with their rationale and findings, I do agree that there are an extensive amount of limitations to the study that the authors noted. The limitations included the self-reported data, measures that were untested, there were not control groups, the information was gathered by the providers, and there was not random selection or sampling within the evaluation (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004).

4. What additional information about clients? experience would have been valuable, and how could it have been collected? See the 2011 article assigned for this unit for possibilities.

Gathering information about the participants involved in an evaluation is extremely important. While the study gathered information about age and race, more information could be gathered about cultural background as well. It would also be beneficial to gather more specific information about the different domestic abuse situations that the participants endured. This information could assist in determining if certain aspects of the program are more effective based on experiences or cultural background. This information could be gathered with questionnaires and interviews that the participants would complete.

References

Bennett, L., Riger, S., Schewe, P., Howard, A., & Wasco, S. (2004). Effectiveness of hotline, advocacy, counseling, and shelter services for victims of domestic violence: A statewide evaluation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(7), 815-829.

Royse, D., Thyer, B. A., Padgett, D. K. (2016). Program evaluation: . an introduction to an evidence-based approach (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning