title: Evaluation and measurement: some dilemmas for health education.
abstract: Seven dilemmas of evaluation and measurement posed by the nature of health education are presented, together with suggestions for their resolution. These include the dilemmas of : 1) rigor of experimental design vs significance or program adaptability; 2) internal validity or "true" effectiveness vs external validity or feasibility; 3) experimental vs placebo effectsl 4) effectiveness vs economy of scale; 5) risk vs payoff; 6) measurement of long-term vs short-term out-comon. Emphasis is placed on the need to develop a more cumulative data base through standardization of measures, replication of experiments in different settings, and better documentation, reporting, and diffusion of experiences in practice.
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004282:Documentation; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D012306:Risk; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013663:Teaching; D013664:Teaching Materials; D013997:Time Factors