Donald Yarbrough, Ph.D.

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Designing and Implementing Program and Project
Evaluations

• Donald Yarbrough, Ph.D.
• Melissa Chapman, Ph.D. Candidate
• U.I. Center for Evaluation and Assessment
• http//www.education.uiowa.edu/cea/

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Importance of Evaluation

• Evaluation can inform programs, projects, and
  policies
• evaluation consists of a set of activities
  developed to help correct, support, and extend
  the way that people, individually and
  collectively, naturally make sense of policies
  and programs implemented to meet human needs

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Program Evaluation Guidelines

• Guiding Principles for Evaluators
  (American Evaluation Association,
  http//www.eval.org/)
• Systematic inquiry
• Competence
• Integrity/honesty
• Respect for people
• Responsibilities for General and Public Welfare

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Program Evaluation Guidelines

• Program Evaluation Standards
  (Joint Committee on Standards for
  Educational Evaluations, 1994, http//www.wmich.ed
  u/evalctr/jc)
• Feasibility
• Propriety
• Accuracy
• Utility
• Metaevaluation

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Purposes of Evaluation General

• Formative
• Summative

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Purposes of Evaluation Specific

• Description and Monitoring
• Investigate Causality
• Determining merit and/or worth
• Improving organizational decisions (ex
  accountability)
• Contributing to knowledge

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Purposes of Evaluation Questions

• Context and problems
• Theories and beliefs

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Purposes of Evaluation Questions

• Intended clients, targets, learners,
  participants, beneficiaries
• Proposed Goals
• Proposed Solutions, interventions, activities

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Purposes of Evaluation Questions

• Resources
• Proposed
• Used
• Actual activities during implementation

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Purposes of Evaluation Questions

• Theories
• Intervention theories and beliefs
• How should these activities result in the
  proposed changes or improvements?
• Management and Service delivery theories and
  beliefs

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Purposes of Evaluation Questions

• Products of the program or project
• Materials
• Participation
• Processes
• Etc.
• Outcomes, impacts, efficiencies, effectiveness
  achieved

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Scheduling and Staffing
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Uses and Reporting
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Supporting Documentation

• Tables
• References
• Vita and resumes
• Budget
• Prior support
• Resources (transcription, technological, physical
  space)

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Expanded Model
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Expanded Model
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Expanded Model
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Questions?