This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ludwin, W. G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Simple Models for Powerful Results

Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne

The gap between academic literature and a practitioner's desk is often forbidding. Complex, but elegant, methods applied to simple problems widen that gap. When the desk is in an office of a subunit of local government, both academicians and practitioners despair. This study, on the other hand, demonstrates a simple, replicable model with the virtues of conceptual soundness, simplicity, and practitioner confidence. This article reports the development and application of simple difference equation models to the caseload burden of an alcohol treatment program. These system models stimulated the recognition of policy alternatives not considered previously and provided a method for estimating the effects of these alternatives. The simple models produced powerful results with no more complexity than required by high school algebra.

Administration & Society, Vol. 19, No. 4, 479-492 (1988)
DOI: 10.1177/009539978801900406


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?