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Title: Outcomes Measurement in the Human Services: Cross-Cutting Issues and Methods by Edward J. Mullen, Jennifer L. Magnabosco ISBN: 0-87101-275-8 Publisher: Natl Assn of Social Workers Pub. Date: March, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99

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Average Customer Rating: 1 (2 reviews)

Rating: 1
Summary: No wonder her own school's publishing co. would touch this!
Comment: I go to the University of Chicago, and I am working on a second Master's degree in Social Work. As one of my required courses, I had to take a statistics/measurement of outcomes class, for which I was required to create and follow through on an original project. Imagine my surprise when I came across this book, written (actually edited) by a former U of C student, Jennifer Magnabosco! I eagerly signed this book out of the Regenstein library, and took it back to my apartment to see if I could make any use of it (that is, as I was required to create an original project as part of the class requirements. I thought that I could get a good handle on how to decide on a project, set it up, follow through, etc.)

I WAS SORELY DISAPPOINTED. I gave this trash only one star because Amazon.com still has not made zero stars an option. I can't believe that ANYONE would have the gall to present this tripe as an entry in the critically important area of statistical measurement of outcomes in what is arguably the softest of the soft sciences, Social Work. Being able to quantify variables and defend one's position by using measurement and statistics is the one factor saving the field of Social Work from being equated to superstition, astrology or even alchemy. This work is poorly edited and organized, and for a work that claims to be one that promotes the correct usage of measurement and statistics in the Social Sciences, it is uncategorically a dismal failure. What it takes to be "cross-cutting issues and methods" actually reads as though it were pieced together by an inner-city high school student writing a lame book report.

A prior reviewer noted (quite accurately and very sharp) that Columbia University, which is where both editors got their advanced degrees, is (a) certainly not known for its quantitative expertise (pardon the understatement!) and (b) that not even Columbia University's own publishing house would dare to publish this. (This is all the more instructive, as it is "customary" for a leading university to promote the works of its graduate students - remember, "Publish or Perish" is the battle cry in academia! And, the more graduate students that a university can claim to have had who have published original work, the greater its prestige....)

Stay away from this stinker, and get anybody else's work. This work is a dismal failure, and if it were a car, it would be recalled and sold for scrap.

Rating: 1
Summary: soft prose about the soft sciences
Comment: While it's good to see that human service personnel finally understand that there should be quantifiable results to their often expensive efforts, this book is a decade behind in both content and approach. Social work as a derivative discipline does not have the knowledge base to adequately judge what should and should not be attempted in the human services, although social workers, often quite adequately, provide needed services under the direction of other solid professions. Notably, the Columbia University School of Social Work is known for its LACK of quantitative skills -- so it is ironic that this book came from that institution. Perhaps the authors were hoping that the Columbia connection would carry them where scholarship could not. You'll notice that Columbia University Press did not publish this book.