Cost-effectiveness evaluation: A case study of an innovative program in higher education

Abstract

This article reviews the cost-effectiveness evaluation component of a project that was undertaken to design and implement an instructional model for providing graduate programs to adults employed full time and residing in remote locations. Through the project, alternative instructional delivery models were compared with respect to costs in achieving program outcomes. The paper reviews the study in the context of a cost-effectiveness evaluation model suggested by Lent (1979) in a previous articles in this series. The processes, conditions, outcomes, and difficulties of each phase of the study are discussed in the sequence presented by Lent: (a) preparing for and establishing conditions of the study, (b) identifying alternatives, (c) designing the costeffectiveness comparison, (d) determining costs, (e) determining outcomes, and (f) assembling and reporting the findings. A final section of the paper discusses the benefits and problems associated with cost-effectiveness evaluation.