The Lay Public's Need for School Evaluation Information

Abstract

Evaluation research suggests that audience characteristics affect the use of evaluation information. Two factors that influence the lay public's need for educational evaluation information are voting habits and parental status. This article examines the relationship between participant voting frequency and parental status on the need for evaluative data. Results indicate that the more frequently parents voted, the more they wanted additional information and the less ready they were to immediately support the program. Nonvoting nonparents wanted more information and were less inclined to provide immediate support. Frequently voting nonparents expressed needs similar to those of fre quently voting parents but were more ready to provide immediate support for the program whereas frequently voting parents were not.