Evaluation and Technology Assessment

Abstract

After reading this chapter, you should know the answers to these questions:

• Why are empirical studies based on the methods of evaluation and technology assessment important to the successful implementation of information resources to improve health care?

• What challenges make studies in informatics difficult to carry out? How are these challenges addressed in practice?

• Why can all evaluations be classified as empirical studies?

• What are the major assumptions underlying objectivist and subjectivist approaches to evaluation? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

• What are the factors that distinguish the three stages of technology assessment?

• How does one distinguish measurement and demonstration aspects of objectivist studies, and why are both aspects necessary?

• What steps are typically undertaken in a measurement study? What designs are typically used in demonstration studies?

• What is the difference between cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses? How can investigators address issues of cost effectiveness and cost benefit of medical information resources?

• What steps are followed in a subjectivist study? What techniques are employed by subjectivist investigators to ensure rigor and credibility of their findings?

• Why is communication between investigators and clients central to the success of any evaluation?