THE EVALUATION UNDER EXAMINATION CONSISTED OF ONSITE VISITS BY TEAMS OF FOUR TRAINED EVALUATORS WHO REMAINED AT EACH SITE FOR ABOUT 5 DAYS TO EXAMINE PROJECT RECORDS AND INTERVIEW PROGRAM PERSONNEL, COMMUNITY LEADERS, AND REPRESENTATIVES OF LOCAL AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS. FROM THESE SOURCES, EVALUATORS CONSTRUCTED BROAD ORDINAL JUDGMENTS OF EACH LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM, AND THESE EFFECTIVENESS RATINGS WERE USED AS MEASURES OF PROGRAM PERFORMANCE. THE EVALUATION REPORT IS AN EXAMINATION OF THESE RATINGS AND SIMILAR GENERAL ASSESSMENTS BY PEOPLE INTERVIEWED AT EACH SITE. THE FINDINGS OF THIS REPORT ARE SUMMARIZED. IT IS GENERALLY CONCLUDED THAT THE EVALUATION IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN OPINION POLL ABOUT THE LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, ALBEIT, BY AN ELITE GROUP OF PERSONS WITH EXPERTISE IN VARIOUS FIELDS SOMEWHAT RELATED TO THE PROGRAM EVALUATED. THE EVALUATION IS DISCUSSED IN DETAIL IN THE LIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION METHODOLOGIES: CONCLUSION VALIDITY; INTERNAL VALIDITY; CONSTRUCT VALIDITY; EXTERNAL VALIDITY; FLEXIBILITY OF DESIGN; THE NATURE OF EVALUATION DATA; AND MORAL CONSIDERATIONS. EACH OF THESE CRITERIA IS DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF ITS GENERAL USE IN EVALUATION IN ADDITION TO ITS APPLICATION TO THE PARTICULAR EVALUATION BEING EXAMINED. MEASURED BY THESE EVALUATION CRITERIA, THE EVALUATION DID SHOW THAT A PROGRAM EXISTED WHICH WAS ROUGHLY CONSISTENT WITH COMMONSENSE NOTIONS OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE, BUT ITS VALUE CANNOT BE JUDGED WITH ANY ACCEPTABLE DEGREE OF CONFIDENCE FROM THE DATA SUPPLIED IN THE EVALUATION REPORT. (RCB)