REPORT ON EVALUATION OF IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY PROJECT ON INDICATORS OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

THE REPORTS CONTRACTED FROM ISU ARE EXCEPTIONAL IN REGARD TO: THEIR COVERAGE & SYNTHESIS OF EXISTING SOCIAL INDICATORS LITERATURE; THEIR GRASP & PRESENTATION OF CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN SOCIAL INDICATORS; AND THEIR PRESENTATION OF THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE SOCIAL INDICATORS APPROACH FROM SUCH RELATED EFFORTS AS PROGRAM EVALUATION RESEARCH.THE STYLE OF THEREPORTS,HOWEVER, IS DIFFUSE & REDUNDANT,AND THEIR CONTENT IS DEFICIENT WITH RESPECT TO SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS.THESE SHORTCOMINGS COULD POSSIBLY BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PRESSURES OF AID'S REPORTING TIME SCHEDULE AND TO CONCEPTION OF THE REPORTS AS INDEPENDENT ENTITIES WITH NO INFORMATIONAL LINK-UP WITH THE OTHER REPORTS. DURING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTRACT,IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT: 1)THE CURRENT AMT OF DATA ON SOCIAL INDICATORS AND THE QUALITY OF INFORMATION WAS INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF A FULL-SCALE SOCIAL SYS MODEL FOR INDICATORS OF LDC & INTRA-SECTORIAL SOCIAL DEVEL; 2)GIVEN THE DIFFICULTY OF ESTABLISHING RELATIONS WITH LDC'S IN ORDER TO CONDUCT RESRCH ACTIVITIES,ISU SHOULD NOT BE EXPECTED TO TEST OUT THE SOCIAL INDIC SYS IN ONE OR MORE LDC'S AS PROMISED IN THE CONTRACT; 3)AS GREAT DIFFICULTY WAS EXPERIENCED IN OBTAINING APPROPRIATE DATA FROM LDC'S OR AID ITSELF,IT APPEARED UNLIKELY THAT SIGNIFICANT COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS MODELS COULD BE PERFORMED. IT IS RECOMMENDED: 1)THE TIME SCHEDULE OF REQUIRED CONTRACTOR REPORTS BE RELAXED; 2)THE EXISTING REPORTS BECOMBINED INTO 2-4 CHAPTERS WHICH WOULD BE PART OF A LARGER MONOGRAPH CONSISTING OF SEVERAL CHAPTERS OF INFO THAT WAS TO BE DEVELOPED IN SUBSEQUENT INDEPENDENT REPORTS; 3)AID SHOULD PROVIDE THE CONTRACTOR WITH REASONABLE & CONSISTENC SUGGESTIONS FOR REVISION OF REPORT CHAPTERS AND SHOULD NOT EXPECT RECEIPT OF REVISED CHAPTERS UNTIL THE END OF THE CONTRACT PERIOD.