Contents -- Foreword -- Preface to the New Edition -- I. Introduction -- Chapter 1 - Applying Social Science to Government -- The Point of View of This Book -- The Role of Applied Social Science -- Endnotes -- Chapter 2 - Optimism and Disillusionment -- Applying Macroeconomics -- The Planning-Programming-Budgeting System -- Demonstration and Evaluation Research -- Doubts Arise -- Other Views -- Demise of the PPB System -- Assessing Demonstration and Evaluation Research -- Endnotes -- II. Demonstration Research -- Chapter 3 - The Nature of Demonstration Research -- The Vocabulary of Demonstration Research -- The Negative Income Tax Demonstrations -- Other Income Maintenance Demonstrations -- Demonstrations of Service-Type Programs -- Endnotes -- Chapter 4 - Hurdles of Demonstration Research -- Selection Bias -- The Null Hypothesis -- Contamination -- Relations with Program Operators -- Quality and Consistency of Treatment -- Cost and Quality of Data -- Treatment of Human Subjects -- The Uncertainty of Cost-Benefit Analysis -- Conclusion -- Endnotes -- Chapter 5 - Welfare Demonstration Studies -- Supported Work -- Results Focus on Welfare -- Implications for Welfare Reform -- MDRC's Work/Welfare Demonstrations -- Endnotes -- III. Evaluation Research -- Chapter 6 - The Nature of Evaluation Research -- The Federalism Barrier Reef -- Scientific Implications -- Endnotes -- Chapter 7 - Evaluating the California GAIN Program -- The GAIN Process -- The MDRC Evaluation -- The Research Challenge -- Discoveries in the Implementation Process -- Endnotes -- Chapter 8 - The 1988 and 1996 National Welfare Reform Laws -- The Family Support Act of 1988 -- The Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 -- Endnotes -- Chapter 9 -Evaluating the Family Support Act of 1988 -- Three Strategies -- Little Fanfare or Rhetoric -- Endnotes.

Chapter 10 - Evaluating the Personal Responsibility Act of l996 -- Changed Signals -- New Partners -- "Diversion" -- Sanctioning -- Political "Detoxification" -- Second Order Devolution -- Adaptability of the Research Process -- Endnotes -- Chapter 11 - Lessons from Evaluations of Employment and Training Programs -- The CETA Public Service Employment Program -- The "Complementarity" Approach -- Studies of Individual Impacts under CETA -- Endnotes -- Chapter 12 - The Beginning of the Field Network Evaluation Methodology -- The Research Approach -- Endnotes -- IV. Conclusions -- Chapter 13 - Public Policy and Policy Research: Limits and Possibilities -- Evaluation Research - The Frontier of Applied Social Science -- The Demand for Policy Research -- Concluding Comments -- Endnotes -- Index.