Experimental social innovation and client‐centered job‐seeking programs

Conclusions The complexity of most social problems and a growing human services shortfall dictate that we reevaluate our approach to planned social change. Simplistic one‐shot evaluations of social interventions are unlikely to yield the kind of information that will help us identify true social innovations, understand and refine their instrumental processes, and thereby optimize their effects. However, incremental progress in these areas is possible through the pursuit of ESI or other systematic and rigorous approaches to outcome research.