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Realistic Evaluation and the 5Is: A Systematic Approach for Evaluating Security Interventions

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The Handbook of Security

Abstract

This chapter advocates for a greater uptake of two underused approached in the security field, realistic evaluation and the 5Is framework, to support more robust and systematic approaches to evaluating security interventions. It contends that a combination of these two complimentary approaches affords a methodical approach to support the design of security interventions, enables a systematic approach for the evaluation of security interventions, offers a greater understanding by the mechanisms which a security intervention has or has not worked in a particular setting or place, facilitates replication and future adaption of security interventions in different contexts, and provides a user-friendly structure for disseminating and communicating the evaluation results of interventions to security practitioners. This chapter examines the strengths and limitations of each approach, the merits of combining the two, and uses a hypothetical scenario to guide the reader through how to carry out a combined realistic evaluation and 5Is evaluation of a security intervention.

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Newton, A. (2022). Realistic Evaluation and the 5Is: A Systematic Approach for Evaluating Security Interventions. In: Gill, M. (eds) The Handbook of Security. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91735-7_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91735-7_24

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91734-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91735-7

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