Countries all over the world face different social problems. The societies react against these problems taking actions which have the purpose to produce an indented result which might be the reduction or the elimination of the problem. This reaction is called social intervention. If we want to find out if a social intervention has produced the expected results we use a particular form of social sciences called evaluation research. It is undertaken to determine the impact of a social intervention. The first thing to do before the intervention is to define if this occurrence is really a problem for the society. We must be very precise in what we will call problem.
In underdeveloped countries, like certain countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, phenomena like high population growth rate or huge extension of AIDS are considered common problems.
In these countries the best way for the society to intervene is through the radio or TV programs because in general but especially in these countries people are very attracted from TV shows. Through a TV show the society may express a certain purpose, for example: changing society behavior regarding the prevention of AIDS. To achieve this purpose, the TV programs may provide knowledge about this disease to aware people of the real danger that it represents.
The first step of the evaluation research is to identify clearly the objective of the social intervention. The objective comes from the purpose of the intervention. It must be measurable to help us latter understand if this intervention has been successful or not. In the case of the TV show I think the best way to evaluate the intervention is making surveys. Through them, we can be able to recognize the presence or the absence of what is under study.
We have to use the data gathered from the surveys to identify the percentage of the listeners who have begun preventing AIDS, or to identify if the percentage of people diagnosed with AIDS has decreased. We have to take measures for several years after, to be able to see the difference from one year to another. We need independent data to be very correct because people not always do what they say they do. If we gather the right data we would be able to value if the intervention of the society has been successful or not. In other words we must be able to say if the outcomes are as expected. Surveys will give us the proper data to do that.
Rise of the drinking age as social intervention
We may find a lot of cases like that in different societies. Another problem very discussed in the recent years is teen drinking. It has become a serious problem of societies almost all over the world. We can easily define it as a problem if we give a look to the surveys realized to measure teen drinking. Once that all the society have agreed on calling that occurrence a problem, came its intervention: rising the drinking age to 21. In many countries this intervention is supported by law. The expected outcome is to allow youth to consume alcoholic drinks only when they achieve a certain age (in this case 21). In this case we may use the survey method to conduct the evaluation. By making a survey during three or four years we would be able to see if the outcome is as expected by interpreting the gathered data. We can measure the wanted result determining if teenagers really wait to achieve this age to begin drinking. Or by finding out the percentage of the ones that act like that? If we find out that more then a half of the youth wait until 21 to begin drinking, or more than a half of the teens have stopped drinking because of this “rule” we may say that the objective of the intervention is as expected. From the both cases we can derive the helpful function of the evaluation research.
As a conclusion we may say that it is appropriate whenever some social intervention occurs. It is a form of applied research which gives practice and helpful data.