APPLIED SOCIOLOGYmost unanticipated) impact, less formal techniques
may be used to develop and evaluate the models
under consideration. Elegance must be balanced
against usability. Complexity must be balanced
against communicability. Theoretical sophistica-
tion must be balanced against the capacity of a
model to interpret the lives of individuals and
groups living through situations.
Evaluating purposive action. Evaluation re-
search is an applied activity in which theories and
methods of the social sciences are used to ascer-
tain the extent to which programs are being imple-
mented, services are being delivered, goals are
being accomplished, and these efforts are being
conducted in a cost-effective manner. These may
be relatively small-scale efforts with finite and
specific research questions. A manufacturing com-
pany may be interested in evaluating the impact of
a new marketing program. A drug rehabilitation
center may be interested in evaluating the cost-
effectiveness of a new treatment modality. A move-
ment organization may be interested in the situa-
tional effectiveness of particular strategies for fos-
tering policies that are conducive to the reduction
in infant-mortality differentials or the production
of higher graduation rates in high-risk areas, or to
a more equitable allocation of tax revenues (Maines
and McCallion 2000).
These programs may or may not be of national
importance, may or may not have large sums of
money contingent on the outcomes, and may or
may not require an understanding of anything but
gross effects. It may be necessary to perform such
analyses with limited personnel, time, and money.
Under such circumstances, relatively unsophisti-
cated methods are going to be used to conduct the
evaluations and reanalysis will not be likely.
On the other hand, programs may involve the
lives of many people, and deal with critical and
complex social issues. The Coleman report on the
equality of educational opportunity was presum-
ably intended to establish once and for all that
gross differences in school facilities did exist for
black and white children in the United States
(Coleman et al. 1966). The report, carried out by a
team of sophisticated social scientists in a relative-
ly short time, unleashed a storm of reanalyses and
critiques (e.g., Mosteller and Moynihan 1972).
These reanalyses attempted to apply the most
sophisticated theoretical and methodological weap-
ons in the sociological arsenal to the task of evalu-
ating the implications of the Coleman report.
Similarly, econometric analyses initially conduct-
ed to evaluate the impact of capital punishment on
the homicide rate spawned very painstaking and
sophisticated applied research (e.g., Bowers and
Pierce 1975) in an attempt to evaluate the robust-
ness of the conclusions. In these latter two cases, a
high level of rigor by any standard was maintained.Conceptualizing, studying, and facilitating
the adaptability of alternative social forms. A
legitimate test of applied sociology is whether it
can be used as a basis for designing and imple-
menting better social institutions (Street and
Weinstein 1975). An element of critical theory is
involved here that complicates the distinction be-
tween basic and applied sociology, for it chal-
lenges applied sociologists and their clients to
imagine: (1) alternative social forms that might be
more adaptive in the face of changing social, envi-
ronmental, and technological trends; and (2) alter-
native environments that must be sought if equita-
ble social forms are to exist. At the level of families,
this may mean asking what new role relationships
could create more adaptive family structures. Al-
ternatively, it might mean asking in what norma-
tive environments egalitarian family roles might
exist. Or perhaps, asking what the impact of pres-
sure for reproductive rights might be on the influ-
ence of women in families and communities. At
the level of work groups faced with changing
technologies and dynamic environments, it is ap-
propriate to ask whether flatter organizational
structures and more autonomous work groups
might better serve both organizational goals and
those of its members (e.g., Myers 1985). At the
community level, exploring the viability of alterna-
tive interorganizational relationships, or how com-
munities respond to the threat of drug dealing are
among a host of legitimate questions. Whatever
the specific focus of such questions and the role of
applied sociologists in working with clients to
answer them, questions of power and ethics should
never be far away.
In applied sociology, problems drive the de-
velopment of both theory and method. When
problems and their dynamics cannot be explained
by existing theories, new assumptions are added
(Lazerefeld and Reitz 1975), new ways of thinking
about concepts like adaptability are developed