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American Journal of Evaluation
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Revisiting the Retrospective Pretest

Laura Griner Hill

Washington State University, laurahill{at}wsu.edu

Drew L. Betz

Washington State University

The purpose of the present study was to examine a common practice in some areas of program evaluation, the retrospective pretest, and to present recommendations regarding its use. The authors review literature to emphasize first, that bias is likely in both prospective and retrospective ratings, and second, that under some circumstances, retrospective pretests may introduce greater bias than traditional pretests. The authors examined data from 100 participants who attended a family program at 15 sites. Results supported the hypothesis that items on which parents were asked to endorse socially desirable parenting behaviors resulted in greater discrepancies between prospective and retrospective ratings. Effect sizes calculated from prospective ratings were comparable with published effect sizes from research trials of the same program. The authors conclude that replacing traditional with retrospective pretests does not eliminate bias. They recommend traditional pretests for examination of program effects and retrospective pretests for examination of subjective experiences of program-related change.

Key Words: retrospective pretest • pretest • bias • change scores

American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 26, No. 4, 501-517 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1098214005281356
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This article has been cited by other articles:


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 American Journal of EvaluationHome page
D. Moore and C. A. Tananis
Measuring Change in a Short-Term Educational Program Using a Retrospective Pretest Design
American Journal of Evaluation, June 1, 2009; 30(2): 189 - 202.
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 American Journal of EvaluationHome page
P. J. Taylor, D. F. Russ-Eft, and H. Taylor
Gilding the Outcome by Tarnishing the Past: Inflationary Biases in Retrospective Pretests
American Journal of Evaluation, March 1, 2009; 30(1): 31 - 43.
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 American Journal of EvaluationHome page
M. E. Arnold
Developing Evaluation Capacity in Extension 4-H Field Faculty: A Framework for Success
American Journal of Evaluation, June 1, 2006; 27(2): 257 - 269.
[Abstract] [PDF]