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Evaluation Of Benefits From Research In Home Economics
Author(s) -
Volker Carol B.,
Deacon Ruth E.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x8201000402
Subject(s) - cost–benefit analysis , activity based costing , computer science , citation , economic evaluation , cost effectiveness , actuarial science , environmental economics , operations research , risk analysis (engineering) , management science , operations management , economics , business , marketing , engineering , microeconomics , ecology , world wide web , biology
This study was done in response to a need for the development of methodologies for evaluating benefits from home economics research. Benefit‐cost and cost‐effectiveness analyses are effective methods to use when possible. Their use, however, requires that costs be quantifiable in dollars and, for benefit‐cost analysis, that benefits, too, be expressed in monetary terms. By the use of benefit‐cost analysis, one child development research project was found to have a potential net savings of $1,468 over a five year period at just one institution. Application of cost‐effectiveness analysis to research to solve an environmental problem had research costs of $51,905 which may result in the elimination of more expensive solutions now costing more than $165,000 per year. Citation analysis may be used to identify the impact of information gained from research, but simple citation counts are not sufficient. To obtain optimum results from evaluation, methods must be selected and developed when the research is being planned. Evaluation analyses can be valuable tools for programming and for demonstrating that home economics research makes a difference.