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BOOK REVIEWS

Chandler, Tomasita M. and Barbara M. Heinzerling. 1999. Children and Adolescents in the Marketplace: Twenty-five Years of Academic Research, Ann A-bar, M!: The Pierkn Press, 680 pp., $145.

In Children and Adolescents in the Marketplace: Twenty-jive Years of Academic Research, the authors present a twenty-five-year (1 970- 1995) annotated bibliography of published research on children and adolescents and their interactions with the marketplace. Two hundred and twenty aca- demic and professional journals, trade papers, books, and conference pro- ceedings served as the source base for the articles that are summarized. The 836 article summaries are divided and organized among six subject areas: Learning the Consumer Role; Economic and Financial Behavior; Expenditures, Shopping Behavior, and Brand Preferences; Consumer Behavior Determinants; Public Policy; and Related Research Issues. Arti- cles that are included had to meet the criteria of being “easily accessible” and “produced in the English language” (ix). Proprietary findings and other forms of private research studies were excluded because of prob- lems affiliated with obtaining such work. Most of the articles included are empirical while a few are classified as being “policy-oriented and Iitera- ture review articles” (ix).

The authors acknowledge that while two previous bibliographies on children’s interactions with the marketplace already exist, both of these publications encompass time frames that are not as recent as those spanned by their book (ix). Still, given the publication date of this volume (1999), it would have been helpful for a more definitive statement on what niche this particular book sought to address specifically, that is, in terms of what the other two bibliographies failed to cover. The currency and value of the book has already been compromised to a degree because of the four-year gap in similar literature that was not included (i.e., from 1995 to 1999). However, even though the review ends with research pub- lished in 1995, a quick review of the “Author Index” can provide an indi- cator of those individuals who have been, and perhaps still are, engaging in research on children.

Still, I found this to be an extremely exhaustive and comprehensive treatment of the literature from 1970 through 1995. Consumer research- erdeducators, child development specialists, and others, such as practi-

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tioners, public policy makers, and graduate students with interests in these areas, will benefit from having access to this book. With spending by children and adolescents reaching $24 billion yearly, (I), books like this are valuable research aides because they provide a variety of per- spectives on young people’s marketplace interactions.

These interactions are of particular interest in the first three chapters entitled, “Learning the Consumer Role,” ‘;Economic and Financial Behavior,” and “Expenditures, Shopping Behavior, and Brand Prefer- ences.” Each chapter in the book is preceded by an overview that pro- vides a flavor of the article summaries that follow. For example, the lead- in to chapter 1 is subdivided into four content area subjects, including consumer education, consumer socialization, decision making, and infor- mation processing. This is a viable and useful organizational framework for the wide variety of research that has been forthcoming during the years 1970 to 1995 on the interplay between the marketplace and chil- dren. As a further aid to readers, the article summaries have been ordered by these subject areas and then subordered by age groups. For example, “Consumer EducatiodLearning” (1 1) contains summaries arranged by studies on preschool, elementary, and high school students in addition to other related research on teachers and consumer education programs. For- tunately, all of these divisions and subdivisions are located by page num- bers in the table of contents.

The first three chapters and chapter lead-ins are particularly useful for researchers. This is especially true for investigators who may be in the initial stages of formulating an individual study or even an entire research agenda. Those interested in how children of a specific age range learn the consumer role, understand the consumer socialization process, andor gain knowledge about various types and forms of marketplace related decision making should find these chapters quite helpful.

Chapters 4 and 5 are on “Consumer Behavior Determinants” and “Public Policy,” respectively. Chapter 4 offers perspectives on how chil- dren interact with the mass media and television, the influence of televi- sion viewing on children, and the effects, regulation, and policy implica- tions affiliated with children’s advertising. Chapter 5 is a bit of a disappointment. This chapter on public policy is but a few pages in length when a more detailed treatment of this area would have been helpful. Curiously, there are other chapters that contain articles with a public policy orientation. For example, chapter 4 details several summaries on the activities of the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Commu- nications Commission regarding children’s television. With these public

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policy oriented articles appearing in chapter 4 and with other public policy research blended into the remaining chapters, chapter 5 and its summaries seem to stand alone. This is not a serious shortcoming but it does detract from the book’s usefulness as a resource should a researcher begin and end his or her search for relevant public policy research by reviewing this chapter only. One might miss the full range of public poiicy reiated research that is avaiiabie in the book if shejhe chooses to not peruse the entire volume.

The final chapter is another somewhat restricted chapter in which the focus is on certain generalities that characterize research on children. These generalities include issues such as methodological and measure- ment considerations that distinguish the feasibility of conducting con- sumer oriented research on children as opposed to adults. For example, the authors note that children are not “miniature adults” (632) and cannot be expected to respond and conform to conventional research techniques and methods that may have proven fruitful with adult consumer subjects. Specifically, research methods are mentioned that are age appropriate for children. A problem with this chapter is that readers who are unfamiliar with this topical area and who restrict themselves to certain portions of the book (because of the chapter titles) may miss article summaries that are quite relevant to the topic. These summaries may be found elsewhere in the book but are not included in the chapter that appears to specifically address that topic.

For example, M. Carole Macklin has conducted a number of studies on research methods that are age appropriate for children. However, she is not mentioned in this chapter (although, she is in chapter 4). Thus, researchers interested in studies on methods suitable for children who are unfamiliar with the work of Professor Macklin would have little guidance regarding the importance of this author’s research if they did not review the entire volume (a daunting task indeed!). A potential solution to prob- lems of this sort that is missing in the present version would be to provide cross-referencing at the end of each chapter’s lead-in, for example, for further information see chapter - and authors such as . If the authors write a follow-up volume to the current one, the inclusion of such cross-referencing is strongly encouraged.

To comment on the overall accuracy of the more than 800 summaries would be beyond the scope of this review. However, certain summaries on articles were easily examined because the articles were written by this reviewer. For this admittedly small and restricted sample, the authors have provided an excellent and accurate depiction of the content of these

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studies, the important findings, and what the results signify. Moreover, and with respect to the entire book, the depth of commentary and analy- sis provided for over 800 investigations is impressive. Many of these summaries are a page, or more, in length (in an oversized book), which is indicative of the detailed and extensive nature of the summarization task that was attempted here and successfully completed. What is presented in this book is not a mere rehashing of brief article abstracts. Rather, these summaries are accurate and true narrowcasts of entire articles, and the authors should be commended for their in-depth treatment of each article.

In summary, any number of academics, practitioners, and public- policy makers should find this volume to be a very important and signif- icant addition to a personal or public library. A considerable amount of wasted literature review and library work could be short-circuited by judicious use of the article summaries contained in these chapters. For example, interest areas as noted in the pre-chapter introductions, can be briefly reviewed for an overall depiction of a particular content area. The article summaries within that content area can then be examined because they represent a viable cross-section of the relevant literature (at least within the confines of 1970 to 1995). Finally, applicable article sum- maries can be assessed in terms of whether additional follow-up is war- ranted on individual (entire) articles. This book is highly recommended, and the authors are to be congratulated for providing a most useful and important reference tool.

Les Carlson, Professor Department of Marketing

Clernson University Clemson, SC

Macklin, M. Carole and Les Carlson, eds. 1999. Advertising to Children: Concepts and Controversies, 1st ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publish- ing, 322 pp.

This reviewer's final conclusion is that this book is definitely in favor of advertising to children and strives to find ways to make the study and prac- tice more effective, authoritative, and academically rigorous. It is, after all, copyrighted by the American Academy of Advertising (MA), an organi- zation tasked with supporting academic educators and the advertising research industry. This book is well edited, easy to read, and well organ- ized. Advertising to Children is comprised of four parts, sixteen chapters, and 322 pages. There is a collection of thirty-two contributors representing

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almost twenty-five different universities across the U.S. Profiles of the con- tributors are provided on pp. 313-322. One of the editors, Carole Macklin, is Resident of the AAA, which holds copyright for the book.

Part one (4 chapters) deals with children’s perceptions of advertising and how advertising works with children. Topics include the following: different aged children and advertising, how children learn (are social- ized) to be skeptical of advertising, why and how children watch televi- sion, and how children dynamically interact with an advertisement. Part two (5 chapters) presents primary research designed to determine the societal impact of advertising to children. Topics are comprised of the fol- lowing: how parents perceive and regulate children’s TV viewing, the use of fine print in TV advertising to children versus during prime time, ado- lescent gender body image and beauty ads, and food messages to chil- dren. Part three (3 chapters) draws attention to research designed to focus on two particular products that are advertised to children: cigarettes and beer, including developing ads designed to persuade children not to smoke, how junior high students view cigarette advertising, and how ado- lescents pay attention to beer and tobacco ads relative to other products. The book’s final section (4 chapters) provides insights into future direc- tions for research.

In the introduction, the editors recognize that the intent of this book is to present cutting-edge, state-of-the-art research on topics of current debate rather than present another, although valued, review of the litera- ture related to advertising to children. They succinctly state that they intend to discuss, “what children know and think about advertising; how advertising works with children; what issues are in the forefront of soci- etal and public policy thinking; [and] what leading advertisers and acad- emicians believe are topics rich for research [in the future]” (xii). The book is organized around these four themes, and the introduction (4 pages) does an excellent job of setting up the nature, scope, and sequence of the book. This review pays attention to part four because it draws on the other three sections of the book to shape new research agendas for the future, some of which could be problematic if not dealt with responsibly and if underlying assumptions are not raised and examined. Part four is comprised of four chapters, chosen because they reflect

what leading advertisers and academicians believe are topics rich for future research. In chapter thirteen, how children are defined, in relation to how they are protected as consumers, is identified as a hot new area of research. This is an important topic but this reviewer is uneasy with the way Wright-Isak juxtaposed it against (a) the argument that advertisers

and universities need to work together to find new knowledge about chi]- dren and (b) when people lose their childhood status. The implication is that, if people are classified as adults sooner in their life cycle than is the current convention, then advertisers can narrow their definition of child- hood status and expand their influence and data gathering exercises.

Another issue flagged in chapter thirteen as a topic rich for future research is the pruper use of the data that is collected that profile children as shoppers, assuming that collecting this data is an acceptable practice. This research agenda does not seem leading-edge. Privacy and calfiden- tiality of personal information has been a collective concern for decades as has the ethics of profiling children and adults to better target products and services. Chapter fourteen, on the other hand, takes this recommen- dation further and discusses children as shoppers on the Internet where, in this reviewer’s opinion, there is a need to be especially concerned with the use of advertising, data collection, profiling, and privacy. Walters’ suggestion that leading edge research would include measuring the impact of the Internet on media usage habits and advertising recall of children is, however, couched in the rhetoric of enriching and improving children’s learning experiences. She begins the chapter by referring to her research that used the Internet as a vehicle to develop “a powerful con- sumer panel [of eight to fourteen year olds] that could easily be accessed for any number of product testing or quantitative habits and practices research” (282). Then she says the Internet is a way for communicators (this reviewer read advertisers) to enable learners and educators by pro- viding them with education opportunities, otherwise lost. The mixed mes- sage was short (only three pages) but left this reviewer wondering- which is the Internet, a learning experience or a shopping experience? In all fairness, the book is linked with the AAA, which serves both educa- tors concerned with learning and advertising industry researchers con- cerned with selling, a reality that is reflected in the selection of the impact of the Internet on media usage habits and advertising recall of children as a hot new research topic.

In chapter fifteen, Goldberg critiques previous research with two twelve-year-old children: (a) for focusing on information processing rather than emotions and motives, (b) for being conducted in small-scale laboratory settings rather than using large-scale time lag studies, (c) for using age twelve as the cutoff date for vulnerability to advertising rather than thirteen or fourteen, and (d) for focusing only on the print media and television rather than the Internet, pagers, and other technology. If adver- tising academics take up the challenge, future research will expand

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(whether good or bad) to encompass large-scale time lag studies of the emotions and motives of less vulnerable consumers (now seen to be aged fourteen and over) as they are exposed to advertising on the Internet and other telecommunication technologies. However, a risk would arise: excessive focus on developing long-term profiles of future shoppers assumed to be less vulnerable at the tender age of fourteen at the exclu- sion of print and television information sources that continue to be used as advertising vehicles. It is hoped that Goldberg’s notion of cross-fertil- ization of research between ages two and twelve and thirteen and eight- een is respected rather than totally disregarded. The former could lead to a balanced approach to advertising research, and subsequent industry practice and public policy, toward youth aged two to eighteen. The latter would not be leading-edge research.

The final chapter of the book and the fourth chapter that focuses on leading-edge research topics, deals with ways to expand further studies of advertising’s ability to influence children’s buying behavior. Stoltman basically says that research will continue but will be done differently. He notes that academics and the advertising research industry could draw from other disciplines to expand their inquires to include the following: (a) icon-based measures and adaptive use of video games ‘and board games; (b) computer technology to present stimuli and measure chil- dren’s responses; (c) longitudinal studies in the field to augment one-shot laboratory based studies thereby determining, over time, how advertising impacts children in the real world; (d) different ethnic and socio-eco- nomic segments and family structures beyond age, gender, and the middle class, nuclear family type (in attempts to augment reliability and valid- ity); and (e) a different conception of when people begin to loose their status as a child (called age-compression) and be viewed as less vulnera- ble (referred to previously by Wright-Isak in chapter thirteen). Stoltman is candid when he refers to the excitement of new research, practice, and policy implications designed to study the capabilities of the hardened child consumer (294) (children are learning life’s lessons sooner, imply- ing they should be treated as adults sooner). Stoltman is eager that future researchers give serious consideration to how all of these impact the public policy debate about the regulation of advertising, insinuating that regulations for hardened children be relaxed, so they can be advertised to like adults. He does respect the two-sided debate about advertising just being another life experience that children have to go through versus the necessity to provide appropriate protective safeguards. It is this reviewer’s fervent hope that this point does not get lost to the final point

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made in the chapter, that merchandising and marketing strategies are as big, or bigger, than advertising when it comes to influencing vulnerable child consumers; in other words; policy makers need to be convinced by academic research to ease off advertising as the culprit of child con- sumers and turn their attentions elsewhere.

Bottom line-this book wiII be very useful, appropriate, timely, and stimulating for committed marketers, advertisers, and/or academics who want to gain consumer insights into children as shoppers. But, it may not resonate as well with those who are concerned with the ethical, political, and social implications of continued efforts to focus on an entire genera- tion of citizens as potential consumers who can be targeted with adver- tising using profiling, longitudinal research of cohorts of children as they turn into future markets, and so forth. This reviewer is one of the latter; hence, the bias evident in this book review. Some balance is needed in preparing people as citizens fmt, and consumers second. The following topics would be welcome additions to any forthcoming edition: (a) cri- tique advertising in the global Information Age, (b) discuss socially responsible business practices on the global level (this book related only to advertising to children in U.S.), (c) inform readers about ethical adver- tising in relation to marketing and merchandising practices, and (d) dis- cuss the socialization of people to be global citizens rather than global consumers. Also, an analysis of each separate chapter reveals a wealth of collective ideas for future research, ideas that are different, but as rele- vant, as those shared in part four of the book. It is suggested that the edi- tors collate these ideas as a useful tool in the Appendix of future editions of Advertising to Children.

Sue McGregor, Professor Coordinator, Peace and Conflict Studies

Mount Saint Vincent University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Meier, Kenneth, E. Thomas Garman, and Lael R. Keiser, eds. 1998. Reg- ulation and Consumer Protection: Politics, Bureaucracy and Economics, 3rd ed., Houston, TX: Dame Publications.

. Editors Kenneth J. Meier, E. Thomas Garman, and Lael R. Keiser col- laborated with numerous authors to produce a book that should be seri- ously considered by anyone interested in the study of regulatory affairs. Regulation and Consamer Protection: Politics, Bureaucracy and Eco- nomics takes an interdisciplinary approach toward a broad range of regu-

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latory issues that are examined across twenty chapters by leading schol- ars. Two chapters at the beginning and thr& chapters at the end of the book frame the investigation of specific topic areas with more general issues, including reforming regulation (Kevin B. Smith), the policy process (Michael J. Licari), misconceptions surrounding regulation and consumer protection (Kenneth J. Meir), and state and local ( S . Lee Richardson) and global (Robert N. Mayer) consumer protection. Tne other fifteen chapters deal with more specific regulatory contexts, each of which are well written and highly informative. These topics span a range of issues as diverse as antitrust, food safety, telecommunications, agricul- ture, credit, depository institutions, environmental and workplace issues, and automobiles. In each chapter, the respective author(s) provide(s) a good overview of a particular area of regulation and consumer protection. In each chapter, the unfamiliar reader will frnd enough information to begin to understand the topic area and to guide further reading in that area. For more informed readers, the various chapters provide a good source of background information and a good summation of the view rep- resented by the author@). Because each of the chosen topic areas repre- sents a research path that could (and has) produce(d) many complete books instead of a single chapter, this approach makes up for any lack of depth with a substantive breadth of information about regulatory study.

Having said that, this book is not for everybody. If, for example, the reader regularly consults the Cato Institute’s Regulation magazine he or she probably will not agree with the basic thrust of this volume, which is that regulation is an integral part of the interactions between government, businesses, and the consumer. Similarly, it does not delve too deeply into the general nature of regulation a’la Peltzman (1976, 1989) or address specific analytical techniques within broad contexts (Hahn and Hird 1991). However, it is axiomatic that regulation has expanded greatly during the past three decades and, in fact, significantly increased during successive Republican presidential administrations. As such, this book represents a rich area of interest to researchers as well as a growing body of literature. Meier and his colleagues use the diversity of authors and viewpoints to analyze the often complex interaction between the regula- tors and the regulated. The editors state openly in the preface that they have chosen to look at regulation as a fundamentally political process within a framework of three somewhat contradictory goals. The first goal is to view regulation through an interdisciplinary lens with views from “history, economics, law, consumer science, organization theory and political science” (xviii). The second goal is to facilitate the explanation

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of the outcomes of consumer protection and regulatory policy. The final goal is to suggest public policy changes that are specific in nature. This approach, combined with the interdisciplinary background of the editors and authors, helps create a rich mosaic of regulatory issues. The editors are more forthright than usual in admitting that, particularly in the case of regulatory and consumer protection research, value judgments do influ- ence the development of literature. (In many ways this book seems to rep- resent the spiritual heir to Meier’s 1995 article, Regulation: Politics, Bureaucracy, and Economics, which expressed the idea that regulations must be understood in terms of both the influence of regulatory bureau- cracies and environmental influences). Accordingly, the editors do a nice job of delineating the normative and empirical arguments throughout the course of the book.

The study of regulation and public policy has made many valuable con- tributions to research regarding the general nature of the regulatory process and the results of regulation (Wilkie 1975) and deregulation (Kas- sarjian 1989; Kassarjian and Kassarjian 1988). But in many ways funda- mental questions have not been answered. Carman and Harris noted that “[dlespite the world’s long history of trying to improve on free-market performance, our knowledge of how to design and implement an effective [regulatory] remedy is not very impressive” (1985, 4; 1989). Meier, Garman, and Keiser have produced a work that does not pretend to answer all of the fundamental questions surrounding regulation; rather, it provides a window into regulatory thought over a wide variety of topic areas. The problems with this volume are inherent with any book of this type, namely that the changing face of the regulatory environment presents a moving target for the research. Any serious student of regulation will have to be prepared to realize that, in many cases, the work of the authors represents a snapshot of the regulatory world at the time their particular section was written and be willing to update accordingly. As such, the book cannot, and should not, be viewed as a definitive compendium on regulatory thought. However, for those readers who are ready to make the small intel- lectual sacrifice necessary to accept these limitations and to consider a variety of views and who are ready to learn about areas other than their own particular regulatory bailiwick, this book is well worth the effort.

REFERENCES

Carman, J . M. and R. G . Hanis, 1986. Public Regulation of Marketing Activity, Part 111. Journd of Macromurketing, 6 (spring):5 1-64.

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Hahn, Robert W. and John A. Hird. 1991, The Costs and Benefits of Regulation: Review and Syn- thesis. Yale Journal ofRegularion, 8, 1 (winterH33-278.

Kassarjian, Harold H. and Waimud M. Kasarjian. 1988. The Impact of Regulation on Advertising: A Content Analysis. Jocturnul of Comwner Policy, 11 (September):269-85.

-. 1989. Some Effects of Marketing and Advertising Regulation. in Marketing and Adverris- ing: The Federal Trade Commission in the f990s, edited by Patrick Murphy and William L. Witke, Notre Dame, IN. University of Notre Dame Press.

Meier, Kenneth J. 1995. Regulation: Politics, Bureaucracy, and Economics. In Public Policy: The Essential Readings, edited by Stefia Z "Beodoulou, iS al., Engfewood CIiffs, NJ.

Pelaman, Sam. 1989. The Economic Theory of Regulation after a Decade of Deregulation. Brook- ings Papers on Economic Activity: Microeconomics 1, Washington Dc: The Brookings Institute.

-..-..-. 1976. Toward a More General Theory of Regulation. JOWMI o f h w nnd Economics, 19: 211-240.

Wilkie, William L. 1975. An Assessment of Resenrch in Relation to Public Policy Needs, Washing- ton, DC U.S. Government Printing Office.

Don Lloyd Cook, Assistant Professor Department of Management and Marketing

~ o M ~ s ~ ~ ~ Tech U ~ ~ ~ ~ r s ~ ~ Rttston

Mohr, Lawrence B. 1995. Impact Analysis for Program ~ v f f ~ ~ ~ t ~ o ~ . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 311 pp., $56 ($21.95 paper).

Providing believable evidence that public policies andor programs have made an impact continues to challenge practitioners from program evaluators to administrators. How can you be certain that a policy caused the outcome for a certain set of consumers at a set time in a specific con- text? How can you be confident that the same program will produce the same impact with different consumers at a different time or place? In Impact Analysis for Program Evaluation, Lawrence Mohr's focus is on improving the conceptual and methodological quality of policy and pro- gram evaluation given its susceptibility to criticism, Mohr distinguishes between program evaluation and impact analysis. He defines impact analysis as a means of determining the extent to which a set of activities affects the state of some objects and examines why the effects were small or large.

This book is designed to be a text in upper Ievel program evaluation and poIicy courses. Also, practitioners responsible for developing pro- gram evaluations focusing on demonstrating causal linkages and impact should find this book of interest. Examples in Impact Analysis for Pro- gram Evaluation are primarily from public policy and public health given the background and experience of the author. Some examples offered relate to welfare reform and consumer issues, such as energy use and

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behavior. M i l e practical illustrations of concepts are included, the abil- ity of the author to connect abstract concepts with practical applications is not always explicit or clear. Students and other users of this book need a strong statistical and research design background as the book focuses in-depth on connections between various impact analysis designs and classical statistical inference. Previous background in Campbell’s pro- gram evaluation and research desigr? conccp:pt,s and application is critical; they are referred to in the bibliography. Readers may want to compliment this text with other additional resources that might challenge Mohr’s con- ceptual assumptions and approaches.

The book begins with a focus on learning to ask the right questions when doing impact analysis. One chapter is devoted to defining and con- ceptualizing the problem, the outcome line of interest, or the dependent variable. Conceptual differences between outcomes and activities, the relationship of the problem to an outcome line, and the tendency to state and measure the wrong outcomes are presented.

The following chapter focuses on exploring the meaning of subobjec- tives, defined as intermediate achievements instrumental to reaching the desired end. Mohr discusses subobjectives in relationship to formative evaluation goals; that is, he answers why programs or policies failed or succeeded with the goal of improvingfurm. He suggests diagramming the theoretical linkages in a program (if X, then Y assumptions and expecta- tions) and the process, which is essential for accomplishing the ends desired. Clarifying subobjectives has major implications for establishing causal linkages and design and being able to suggest actions to change the program or make it more successful.

A majority of the book ( 7 of 12 chapters) focuses on getting the right answers, the means of determining whether program theory (the problem, activities, and outcomes) is correct, and how to quantify the program effi- cacy. The in-depth chapters on design build on, clarify, and add to Camp- bell and Stanley’s (1966) methodological writing and Mohr’s own first edition of the book. In this edition, Mohr specifies a theory of impact analysis and elaborates on the core concept in the theory, the principle of reduction to chance. At the center of discussion is the ability to create a research design that allows one to compare what appeared after imple- menting the program with what would have appeared had the program not been implemented (the counterfactual). Differences conceptually and practically in effectiveness and impact ratios, as well as the coverage level or inclusiveness of the population treated or population at risk, are also explored.

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Given that randomized experimental design is considered the best but is not often possible, the quality of additional designs is a primary focus. Three basic types of designs and subtypes within each are covered: exper- imental, quasi-experimental, and ex post facto. Criteria to evaluate designs are discussed in-depth, focusing on internal and external validity. Validity issues including centralized versus random selection of subjects and generalizability (external validity) as well as three key threats to internal validity: history, selection, and contamination are discussed in relationship to each type of research design. Multiple regression concepts are assumed to be understood and are used to discuss strengthdweak- nesses and the meaning of particular designs. Readers are challenged to consider how causality linkages can be inferred and statistically proven given program theory.

One additional chapter offers an abstract exploration of whether causality can be assessed subjectively using qualitative design rather than statistical and quantitative designs. Given his assumption that impact analysis is solely based on the idea of causation, Mohr’s exploration of how an alternative causal epistemology and inference might be under- stood through the use of case studies and other qualitative designs is con- fusing and weak.

In summary, Impact Analysis for Program EvaEuation should be useful to individuals interested in strengthening the quality of quantitative pro- gram or policy impact analysis. Mohr’s book wilI challenge users to improve impact analysis conceptually as well as by encouraging the selection of appropriate designs that can demonstrate relationships between cause and effect, with special consideration for internal validity and generalizability.

Marlene S . Stum, Associate Professor Department of Family Social Science

University of Minnesota St. Paul