Problems in Measuring the Goal Attainment of Voluntary Organizations

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The measurement of goal attainment is persistently neglected by most voluntary associations and other organizations having rela tively intangible goals. One of the reasons is that many evalua tion models indicate primarily that goals need to be measured, but not how to do it. This paper considers two general sources of problems in measuring goal attainment. One source is the na ture of the goals, and five attributes are sketched: intangibility, change, number, continuousness, and remoteness. The second source of difficulty is the kinds of decisions made by the research er. One type deals with identifying the goals-by means of re ports, and inferences from actions. The second set of decisions refers to measuring attainment, and considers criteria pyramids versus means-ends pyramids, temporal decisions and absolute versus relative standards in measurement.

This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit: