Behavioral Science—Meaning in Measurement and Management Science

In his 1974 Presidential address to the Division of Evaluation and Measurement of the American Psychological Association, Samuel Messick points out that “in evaluating the efficiency of programs, it is not sufficient simply to gauge the size of effects or to appraise input-output differences relative to costs. In addition, one should seek evidence about the nature and meaning of the processes that produced the effects, for an understanding of these instrumentalities is necessary for a full and proper judgment of the value of the outcome.”