@article{ref1,
title="Understanding the time-course of an intervention's mechanisms: a framework for improving experiments and evaluations",
journal="Journal of experimental criminology",
year="2019",
author="Linning, Shannon J. and Bowers, Kate and Eck, John E.",
volume="15",
number="4",
pages="593-610",
abstract="OBJECTIVEsThe crime prevention evaluation literature has identified several potential side effects of interventions. These often-unintended consequences occur at different stages of prevention processes, including before official start dates. They can improve or reduce intervention impacts. Evaluations using before-and-after designs with or without controls can fail to identify these effects. We describe a longitudinal framework to guide the design and evaluation of interventions that can account for these side effects when causal mechanisms are better understood.<br><br>METHODSOur time-course framework provides a comprehensive assessment of the prevention process. Using place-based examples as illustrations, it builds on previously identified temporal benefits and backfires--such as anticipatory benefits, residual deterrence, and initial backfire--that have never been systematically organized into a single framework. We show how our framework can be incorporated into the EMMIE framework for assessing prevention utility.<br><br>RESULTSThe proposed time-course framework links together all temporal effects, their underlying mechanisms, and shows how they can vary by context.<br><br>CONCLUSIONSThe framework suggests that considering all decisions within these timelines will be more cost-effective and produce greater crime reductions in the long run. By considering the mechanisms that can be triggered at various points in an intervention's time-course, we can better design experiments to test them and generate stronger evaluations of programs.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1573-3750",
doi="10.1007/s11292-019-09367-0",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-019-09367-0"
}