You Can Find the Time to Evaluate: Tips for Incorporating Program Evaluation Into Your Work

Evaluator's Corner

You Can Find the Time to Evaluate: Tips for Incorporating Program Evaluation Into Your Work

When asked why they don't conduct program evaluation, professionals often cite that they don't have the time, or the resources. While there can be such barriers to evaluating, they are not insurmountable. The following are some practical tips for incorporating program evaluation into your work. You may find that some are more realistic for your programs than others. Choose at least one of the tips below and make the decision to implement it. You will find that the benefits of evaluating your programs far outweigh the barriers.

The most important tip for incorporating evaluation in your work is that you first recognize and understand the value of program evaluation. Whether you believe that evaluation is important to prove the efficacy of your program to your staff and the community, to maintain or attract funding, to improve a program, or a combination of reasons, it is imperative that you understand its importance. If you see evaluation as a vital part of your work, you will be more likely to find the resources to do it, and to incorporate it into all aspects of programming. One common barrier to evaluation is the sense that efforts and resources should be spent on programming, not evaluation. In truth, evaluation is the only way to confirm that the work you are doing is truly having the impact you hope it is. Evaluation is the best way to ensure that you are advancing your mission, and delivering the ''right'' programs. Resources spent on evaluation are a well-spent investment toward high quality programming.

Start small. Anyone can find the time and resources to do some type of evaluation. The key is to start small — and continually improve your evaluation as time goes on. Once an evaluation mechanism is set up, it often doesn't take as much time or resources to keep it going or to gradually increase its sophistication. Writing evaluation plans into the budgets of your grant proposals will also help you to obtain the resources you need. It is far better to conduct a small well-designed evaluation, than a faulty large one.

Take the time to set up evaluation tools for your commonly delivered programs. If you deliver a good amount of one- or two-session programs that don't vary much from one time to the next, you would benefit from developing brief evaluation tools to be used for each program. For example, if you deliver more or less the same programs on Birth Control Methods and STIs often, it would be a good idea to develop a short pre- and post-test to measure whether these programs are meeting their objectives. Whether these programs are intended to increase participant knowledge about the subjects, or whether they are simply meant to raise awareness of the issues and inform participants of your organization and its services, develop a short tool to be used each time. It may help to sit down with a group of colleagues to discuss what the objectives are for the sessions, and what questions you might include to assess whether or not they have been met. Having an evaluation tool for commonly delivered programs will make it very easy to evaluate these programs, regardless of who is delivering the program.

Hire an intern. Because resources, particularly money, can be very limited, it is a good idea to hire an intern or reliable volunteer to work on evaluation projects. If possible, connect with a local university to see whether there are Master's or PhD candidates who would like to use your program for their thesis or dissertation. A student of public health or social psychology, for example, might have the skills to design and implement an evaluation of your program, and might be willing to do so free of charge in order to use the evaluation for their studies. Be sure that the student you hire is skilled in research methods and has experience with statistics and research design. Interns can also be very helpful for data entry and other administrative aspects of conducting an evaluation. This can save you time and money while providing an interesting and fulfilling experience for a student.

Make the time for evaluation. Very often educators have limited time with students, and they are hesitant use any of that time for evaluation. While this is understandable, with such limited time, you want to be sure you are using it wisely, and meeting your session objectives. If you skip the evaluation to make more time for the program, you cannot be sure that the program is having its desired effects. It is worth it to make the time for the evaluation; just be sure to pick the most essential targeted questions that you need students to answer in order to know that your program is a success. You can also use creative ways to take up less time in the classroom. When possible, have the classroom teacher administer the evaluation tools before the program begins, and perhaps even after it's over. If the school or cooperating organization agrees, this can result in less classroom time devoted to completing evaluations. You might also be able to incorporate evaluation in the form of homework assignments if you will see the same students for more than one single session. You might have them complete a journal entry or write about what they learned from the program, or what they plan to do with the information they have learned. By having students complete this assignment at home, you can avoid using limited class time for evaluation purposes.

Prepare for data collection. You can prepare to collect quantitative data before you even collect it. Set up a simple spreadsheet to automatically calculate evaluation results using formulas. Make data entry a regular activity so that it won't build up. Data entry does not have to be a big job — if it is done on a regular basis, it won't get out of hand. If you are not familiar with a spreadsheet or other statistical analysis program, find someone who is, and ask for help.

Evaluation can be everybody's job. If you supervise several educators or program managers who are each responsible for a particular program, make each of them responsible for their program's evaluation. Involve them in developing the evaluation plan and constructing the tools so that they understand it completely, and feel invested in it. If evaluation is conducted regularly, have educators report on their evaluation results monthly. This will help them to not lose sight of the evaluation, and to keep up with data entry and analysis.

Finally, when possible, use existing evaluation tools. This will make it easier for you to hit the ground running. Existing tools may not always fit your program objectives exactly, but they have the benefit of having been developed and tested, and it may take less time to revise a tool than to develop one from scratch. Ask your colleagues what they are using to evaluate their programs, and whether they'd be willing to share. Very often, different organizations are delivering very similar programs with similar content, and they could benefit from each other by sharing evaluation tools and ideas.

With a little work, program evaluation can become part of your job in a way that doesn't feel burdensome. If you begin to think of evaluation as an essential part of programming, it will no longer feel like ''just one more thing'' you have to do.

If you have questions about evaluation, would like assistance, or would like to request an Evaluator's Corner edition on a particular topic, please do not hesitate to contact me: Julia Kohn, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 W. 33rd St., New York, NY 10001. Phone: 212-261-4629. Fax: 212-247-6269. Email: julia.kohn@ppfa.org