Evaluating OD Evaluations: A Status Report

Fifteen recent studies that attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of OD programs were analyzed to determine the quality of their research designs. According to a standard set of validity criteria, there was improvement in methodological rigor in comparison to an earlier group of similar studies. It was concluded that there is a noticeable trend among OD evaluation studies to increasingly follow recommendations for better controls and thus obtain more reliable, valid, and meaningful results.