Precursors and general strategy

[Ellen Omohundro <elomo@mail.wsu.edu>]

In order to conduct a program evaluation, two important
precursors come to mind: 1) baseline data (an evaluation is
intended to measure improvement; if you don't know where you are
starting from, how do you know you improved?); and 2) clearly
stated program goals and objectives (if it isn't clear what the
program intends to accomplish, how do you know what to
evaluate?).  Speaking from experience, when either or both of
these precursors are absent, designing and interpreting program
evaluation results is nothing short of an exercise in futility,
and conducting an evaluation at all should be strongly
reconsidered.

Depending on what the goals and objectives of the program are,
evaluations can take on many forms involving personal interviews
and surveys.  The questions asked of evaluation participants need
to be directly tied to said goals and objectives (e.g., did the
program accomplish/meet specific needs it targeted, etc.).   A
good question to start with is asking what the goals and
objectives of the program are, or listing them and asking
participants to identify which ones apply.  Widely varying
responses help identify desires outside of the program's intents,
sources of confusion about what the program's goals and
objectives are among users, and misalignments in service delivery
between and among administrators.  This type of information is
also very important context for interpreting program evaluation
results.