The evaluation of re-employment programmes: Between impact assessment and theory-based approaches

In spite of a much improved labor market, the outcome of a leading evaluation report on reemployment programs in the Netherlands turned out negative. This result might be due to limitations of the evaluation method used by the researchers, who had to content themselves with a nonexperimental approach. Currently, for many evaluation researchers, the experimental method stands out as the superior design, especially when combined with a meta-analysis over several trials. We show, however, that experimental evaluations do not solve the uncertainties in this field. Meta-analyses of evaluation studies in Europe and the United States produced strikingly mixed results. Efforts to trace their diversity to variations in reemployment programs have not been very successful. This is mainly because of the “black box character” of many experimental evaluations, which offer little information about the content of the programs. Following “realistic evaluation,” we argue for a focus on the theories behind these programs in evaluation research. To this end, reemployment services are depicted in twelve core (mediating) mechanisms

The Dutch sociology of education: Its origins, significance and future

Contains fulltext : 28833.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)As in many other countries the Dutch sociology of education has blossomed into a fully-fledged specialised branch of sociology since the beginning of the 1970s. A tradition of policy-oriented research has also consolidated the position of the sociology of education at the universities. The strength of this relatively small group of specialists lies in the solid empirical basis and use of advanced research techniques and analyses in their work. Theory and reflection are not the strongest qualities of this group. A good organisational structure naturally helps keep the ranks closed. Recently, however, marginalisation of the specialism is threatening because of isolation from general sociology. Mainstream educationalists and policy-makers are also challenging the sociologists of education to make their contribution more explicit than ever