Providing students and practitioners with a comprehensive introduction to evaluation research, this book shows how social research methods and methodologies can be applied in a variety of evaluation contexts. The author:- illustrates the contribution both quantitative and qualitative methods can make to evaluation;- stresses the important part played by theory in the evaluation enterprise;- introduces some of the conceptual, methodological and practical problems encountered when undertaking this type of applied research, especially in the areas of criminal justice, health care and education.