Note: This was one paper presented as part of Multipaper Session 983 titled, "Using Systems Thinking to Inform Measurement". Presenter(s): Emily Gates, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, egates3@illinois.edu Thomas Schwandt, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, tschwand@illinois.edu Abstract: Most evaluations focus on social interventions (e.g. policies, programs, practices) and the changes caused by these interventions. Underlying this focus are often unarticulated assumptions about what intervention and change mean. The focus of this paper is three-fold: (1) to examine these taken-for-granted assumptions about social interventions and the nature of change; (2) to present an interpretation of what intervention and change mean within a systems perspective; and (3) to identify some ways that this perspective is relevant to the field of evaluation.#SystemsinEvaluation #2012Conference