About the Authors

• Pages: 245-251
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7863(2012)0000013016
• Published date: 21 May 2012
• Date: 21 May 2012

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Brad Astbury is research fellow in the Centre for Program Evaluation,

Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne

where he lectures within the Masters of Evaluation course. His interests lie

in evaluation theory and social research methodology. Brad has conducted

evaluations in a number of areas, including corrections, education, health

promotion and various family and community service interventions.

Matt Barnard is social researcher who specialises in conducting mixed-

method research and evaluations focused on vulnerable populations inclu-

ding children who have suffered abuse or neglect, drug-dependent adults

and problem gamblers. As head of evaluation at the NSPCC, he is currently

overseeing an extensive programme of 20 evaluations of innovative services

being rolled out by the charity. The evaluation approaches range from

randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs to in-depth

process and formative evaluations. Before joining the NSPCC, Matt was a

research director in the crime and justice team at NatCen Social Research

where he led a wide range of research and evaluations. Many of the studies

were commissioned by the UK’s Home Office and Ministry of Justice,

including the Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study, a major national

evaluation of drug treatment in the United Kingdom for which he was the

lead researcher on the qualitative component. He has particular expertise in

qualitative research methods, having helped developing NatCen’s analysis

of qualitative data course and taught it for many years. He has also led the

development of Critical Qualitative Theory, a new articulation of NatCen

Social Research’s approach to qualitative research.

Robert F. Boruch is University Trustee Chair Professor at the University of

Pennsylvania with appointments in the Graduate School of Education and

in the Statistics Department of the Wharton School. At Penn, he is a

member of the Graduate Group in Criminology in the School of Arts and

Sciences and the Graduate Group in the School of Social Policy and

Practice. He joined Penn’s faculty in 1989, following service as a professor

of psychology, statistics and education at Northwestern University in

1969–1988.

245