Evaluation of Service Provision to Rural Community Groups: Is There a Service Delivery Problem and How Do We Research It?

The central thesis of this paper is that established criteria for evaluating rural services are not available and probably will never be established on a comprehensive basis. It is argued that adequacy of services is normative in nature and, therefore, service evaluation necessitates primary investigation on the local and regional level. Several alternative research designs and scale construction are discussed relative to rural service evaluation with primary emphasis placed upon quasi-experimental design. It is concluded that a closer association between research and development decision-making and implementation is essential to increase the probability of relevance of developmental programs on the local level

Mobile Service Centers: A Potential Mechanism for Small, Rural Community Development

Exact date of working paper unknown.One of the most perplexing problems for rural development is the provision of adequate service facilities. This paper is a discussion of one attempt at the resolution of this problem. The proposed mechanism for the delivery of integrated services to rural Appalachian communities is a railroad mobile unit. Incorporated within the proposed unit are to be medical, dental, guidance and counseling, and adult basic education service facilities. The primary objectives of the proposed program are to provide needed service facilities to the people and also to provide a means for increased community solidarity and regional integration