Table Of Content
Preparation refers to the steps taken to get ready for the future uses of the evaluation findings. The ability to translate new knowledge into appropriate action is a skill that can be strengthened through practice. It is possible to prepare stakeholders for future use of the results by discussing how potential findings might affect decision making. Justifying conclusions in an evaluation is a process that involves different possible steps. For instance, conclusions could be strengthened by searching for alternative explanations from the ones you have chosen, and then showing why they are unsupported by the evidence.
The following features of evidence gathering typically affect how credible it is seen as being:
IEG evaluations provide an objective assessment of World Bank Group results, and identify lessons learned from experience. Through independent evaluation, IEG is helping the World Bank Group achieve its twin goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. A random group eliminates the problems of selection we discussed above, as well as issues that might arise from differences in culture, race, or other factors. The term control group comes from the attempt to control outside and other influences on the dependent variable. If everything about the two groups except their exposure to the program being evaluated averages out to be the same, then any differences in results must be due to that exposure.
arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators
Research Design Issues for Evaluating Complex Multicomponent Interventions in Neighborhoods and Communities is from the Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium. The article discusses challenges and offers approaches to evaluation that are likely to result in adoption and maintenance of effective and replicable multicomponent interventions in high-poverty neighborhoods. As we mentioned above, the important thing here is to choose a design that will give you reasonably reliable information. In general, your design doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be good enough to give you a reasonably good indication that changes are actually taking place, and that they are the result of your program. Just how precise you can be is at least partially controlled by the limits on your time placed by funding, program considerations, and other factors. One is to inform participants at the beginning about exactly what you’re hoping to do, listen to their objections, and meet with them (more than once, if necessary) to come up with a satisfactory approach.
How do you evaluate a specific program?
This guide explains how program evaluation can contribute to improving program services. It provides a high-level, easy-to-read overview of program evaluation from start (planning and evaluation design) to finish (dissemination), and includes links to additional resources. You will learn about program evaluation and why it is needed, along with some helpful frameworks that place evaluation in the broader evidence context. Other resources provide helpful overviews of specific types of evaluation you may encounter or be considering, including implementation, outcome, and impact evaluations, and rapid cycle approaches.
For example, primary intended users and other stakeholders could be given a set of hypothetical results and asked what decisions or actions they would make on the basis of this new knowledge. If they indicate that the evidence presented is incomplete or irrelevant and that no action would be taken, then this is an early warning sign that the planned evaluation should be modified. Preparing for use also gives stakeholders more time to explore both positive and negative implications of potential results and to identify different options for program improvement. They are formed by comparing the findings and their interpretations against one or more selected standards. Because multiple standards can be applied to a given program, stakeholders may reach different or even conflicting judgments. For instance, a program that increases its outreach by 10% from the previous year may be judged positively by program managers, based on standards of improved performance over time.
Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking of alkoxyaurones as potent pancreatic lipase inhibitors - ScienceDirect.com
Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking of alkoxyaurones as potent pancreatic lipase inhibitors.
Posted: Mon, 15 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Worksheet 3A – Focusing the Evaluation in the Logic Model
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Common Framework for Research and Evaluation
Simple or superficial programs, while potentially useful, cannot realistically be expected to make significant contributions to distal outcomes of a larger program, even when they are fully operational. Of course, the most important stakeholders are those who request or who will use the evaluation results. Nevertheless, in Step 1, you may also have identified stakeholders who, while not using the findings of the current evaluation, have key questions that may need to be addressed in the evaluation to keep them engaged. For example, a particular stakeholder may always be concerned about costs, disparities, or attribution.
But there are a few elements demoted to afterthoughts that can actually increase your quality of life if given careful consideration upfront. Patricia Hart McMillan is a nationally known interior designer, whose interior design work for private clients, designer showcases, and corporations has appeared in publications worldwide, including the New York Times and USA Today. Known as a trend spotter and for clearly articulated views on design, she is quoted frequently and extensively in both trade and consumer publications. A prolific writer, she is coauthor and author of seven books on interior design and decoration, with Sun Country Style signature collections of furniture based on two books.
Case studies can also allow for an exploration of community characteristics and how these may influence program implementation, as well as identifying barriers to and facilitators of change. The affordable housing example shows how the desired focus might be constrained by reality. The model led to a discussion of reasonable expectations and, in the end, to expanded evaluation indicators that included some of the more distal outcomes, that led to stakeholders’ greater appreciation of the intermediate milestones on the way to their preferred outcomes. Stakeholders who commission or use evaluations and those who manage or conduct evaluations all have their own ideas and preferences about which approaches and methods to use.
For example, it may take the form of a legal contract, a detailed protocol, or a simple memorandum of understanding. Regardless of its formality, creating an explicit agreement provides an opportunity to verify the mutual understanding needed for a successful evaluation. Moreover, different stakeholders may have different ideas about what the program is supposed to achieve and why. For example, a program to reduce teen pregnancy may have some members who believe this means only increasing access to contraceptives, and other members who believe it means only focusing on abstinence.
Depending on your program’s objectives and the intended use(s) for the evaluation findings, these designs may be more suitable for measuring progress toward achieving program goals. Even when there is a need to prove that the program was responsible for progress on outcomes, traditional research designs may not be the only or best alternative. Depending on how rigorous the proof needs to be, proximity in time between program implementation and progress on outcomes, or systematic elimination of alternative explanations may be enough to persuade key stakeholders that the program is making a contribution. While these design alternatives often cost less and require less time, keep in mind that saving time and money should not be the main criteria selecting an evaluation design. It is important to choose a design that will measure what you need to measure and that will meet both your immediate and long-term needs.
Elements of an agreement include statements about the intended purpose, users, uses, and methods, as well as a summary of the deliverables, those responsible, a timeline, and budget. For example, the intended use of the evaluation could shift from discovering how to improve the program to helping decide about whether the program should continue or not. Evaluation methods should be selected because they provide the appropriate information to answer stakeholders' questions, not because they are familiar, easy, or popular.
Including external methodological and substantive experts in the evaluation design process can effectively reduce bias and enhance quality. These are stand-alone documents that describe key considerations and decisions regarding the rationale, scope, and methodology of an evaluation. When evaluations are contracted out, the terms of reference for external consultants often contain similar elements. Terms of reference are, however, never a substitute for approach papers or inception reports. Reliability concerns the transparency and replicability of the evaluation process.2 The more systematic the evaluation process and the higher the levels of clarity and transparency of design and implementation, the higher the confidence of others in the quality of inference. A program that may, on average, seem to be relatively ineffective may prove, on close inspection, to be quite effective with certain participants – those of a specific educational background, for instance, or with particular life experiences.
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