Theoretical concepts are unambiguous and described in sufficient depth to be useful
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Description of the programme theory or sufficient information to enable it to be ‘surfaced’
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Insufficient information to enable the programme theory to be ‘surfaced’
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Relationships between and amongst concepts are clearly articulated
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Consideration of the context in which the programme took place
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Limited or no consideration of the context in which the programme took place
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Concepts sufficiently developed and defined to enable understanding without the reader needing to have first-hand experience of an area of practice
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Discussion of the differences between programme theory (the design and orientation of a programme—what was intended) and implementation (what ‘happened in real life’)
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Limited or no discussion of the differences between programme theory (the design and orientation of a programme—what was intended) and implementation (what ‘happened in real life’)
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Concepts grounded strongly in a cited body of literature
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Recognition and discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the programme as implemented
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Limited or no discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the programme as implemented
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Concepts are parsimonious (i.e. provide the simplest, but not over-simplified, explanation)
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Some attempt to explain anomalous results and findings with reference to context and data
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No attempt to explain anomalous results and findings with reference to context and data
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-
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Description of the factors affecting implementation
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Limited or no description of the factors affecting implementation
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-
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Typified by
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Typified by
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Terms—‘model’, ‘process’, or ‘function’
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Mentioning only an ‘association’ between variables
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Verbs—‘investigate’, ‘describes’, or ‘explains’
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Topics—‘experiences’
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