Strategies for Evaluation Research: Interventions

Abstract

Intervention research typically follows a simple linear process of planning, execution, and assessment. While useful, this framework may not adequately capture the complexity of evaluating the quality, applicability to the real world, and sustainability of interventions. To broaden the traditional evaluation scope and research impact, media psychology researchers could consider five recommended criteria from the RE‐AIM framework in the planning, execution, and evaluation stages. These criteria are: reach, efficacy/effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Media psychology researchers who design interventions guided by RE‐AIM would be able to recruit intended target populations, incorporate cutting‐edge designs to document intervention impact, and increase rate of adoption and implementation by other organizations with the ultimate goal to generate sustainable, real‐world impact.