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I recently had a video meeting with one of my client organizations. We’re preparing for a presentation in a few weeks to orient some members of her staff to a newly-developed evaluation working group. They will be working directly with me on guiding the organization through the development of an evaluation framework for its programs and strategies, guided by the organization’s current strategic plan.
As we planned out the agenda and what topics to include, the staff member and I discussed various aspects of the evaluation design process, including logic models, theories of change, data collection and dissemination. In this discussion I touched on one aspect of the evaluation process that many would see as a given, but it’s actually more complex:
What exactly are you evaluating?
We ordinarily associate evaluation with the ending of a program, where we want to collect data to find out if what the program set out to do actually achieved its goals. But you can also evaluate the program as it’s being developed, or even evaluate if the program is appropriate enough to implement.
While there are multiple evaluation theories, there are five common types of evaluation:
- Formative evaluation– Is this program feasible and appropriate before we implement it? (This is mainly for newly developed programs or existing ones that are currently been modified or adapted)
- Process/implementation evaluation– Have the program activities been implemented as intended?
- Economic evaluation– How much bang for our buck are we getting out of implementing this program?
- Outcome/effectiveness evaluation– How did participants engage with the program activities, based on the program’s outcome objectives? (Your logic model is crucial here)
- Impact evaluation– How effective was the program in achieving its ultimate goals? (This is done further down the road, after a program ends, to determine the lasting impact the program had on the target population)
To go more in depth, the Centers for Disease Control beautifully lays out each evaluation type, its purpose, when it’s likely to be used, and examples of activities.
The key takeaway here is this: Before you start an evaluation, be sure you know exactly what it is you’re evaluating.
