Effectiveness on the Horizon

Abstract

The thesis Effectiveness on the Horizon gives an account of a study on research into results of child protection measures and the interventions that could take place within this legal framework. The central question of this study is: to what extent, and in what way in The Netherlands between 1945 and 2005 were results of interventions studied that took place within the framework of a legal child protection measure ? This question was answered through an analysis of journal articles from the field of child protection and of research reports published between 1945-2005.This study led to the conclusion that professionals and academics involved in legal child protection measures and the resulting interventions have between 1945-2005 always been interested in studying the results of these interventions. Also, grounding this work in a scientific knowledge base has been a constant ambition. At the same time, ideas about how a ‘good result’ can be defined, operationalized and studied in research changed during the second half of the twentieth century. It also became clear that ideas about how to study results changed over time and that throughout the period studied there was discussion regarding this topic. Therefore, those involved in developing, studying and carrying out interventions should always be aware of what exactly is seen as a ‘good result’ and reflect on the question of what this means for research methods