There are three basic types of research designs including: (1) experimental designs; (2) quasi-experimental designs; and (3) non-experimental designs. (Shadish, Cook and Campbell, 2002) the 'gold standard' is stated to be represented by "...experimental evaluations that make use of the random assignment of individuals to interventions and control groups..." (Mulhlhausen, 2009) Mulhlhausen (2009) reports that randomized evaluations are of the nature that serve to "ensure that pre-progam differences between the intervention and control groups do not confound or obscure the true impact of the programs being evaluated." In addition, random assignment is stated to enable the evaluator in testing "for differences between the experimental and control groups that are due to the intervention and not to pre-intervention discrepancies between the groups. By drawing members of the interaction and comparison groups from the same source of eligible participants, these experimental evaluations are superior to other evaluations using weaker designs." (Mulhlhausen, 2009)

IV. Limitations of Current Program Assessment

Noted as limitations of current program assessment in prison are factors such as: (1) overstating of program effectiveness (Weisburd, Lum and Petrosino (2001); and (2) too little evaluation (James, 2009). Weisburd holds that there is "...a moral imperative upon researchers to conduct randomized experiments. The moral...

Lum, and Anthony Petrosino, "Does Research Design Affect Study Outcomes in Criminal Justice?" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, No. 578 (November 2001), pp. 50-70.
Nathan James, "Offender Reentry; Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism," CRS Report for Congress, April 21, 2009.

William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, and Donald T. Campbell, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002).

Muhlhlausen, David B. (2009) Prisoner Reentry: A Limited Federal Government Role. The heritage foundation. 5 Nov 2009. Online available at: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Crime/tst110509a.cfm#_edn35

Wolk, James L. And Hartmann, David J. (1996) Process Evaluation in Corrections-Based Substance Abuse Treatment. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Volume 23, Issue…