The Logic Model: A Useful Tool for Visualizing Your Programs and Preparing for Evaluation

Evaluator's Corner

The Logic Model:
A Useful Tool for Visualizing Your Programs and Preparing for Evaluation
by Julia Kohn

Organizations are increasingly being challenged to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs, and to be more accountable to managers and funders. One tool that can help organizations achieve these tasks is a program logic model, a diagram that provides a road map for a given program, showing what it is supposed to do, with whom, and why.

What is a logic model?
A logic model is a visual representation of a program. It provides a simple description of the program "theory" and shows the relationship between what we put in (inputs), what we do (outputs), and what results (outcomes). A logic model depicts the "if-then" sequence of changes that a program intends to affect. As such, the logic model is the core of program planning and evaluation.

Why create a logic model?
Creating a logic model may seem like just one more thing to do. The following are some of the reasons why creating a logic model is so useful for program planning and evaluation. Creating a logic model

• helps us to clarify goals and objectives
• illustrates the chain of events that link inputs and activities to outcomes
• summarizes key elements of the program
• distinguishes activities from outcomes
• helps build consensus ("buy-in") around the program
• shows us what to evaluate

Sample Logic Model

Inputs	Activities	Outputs	Outcomes — Impact
			Initial	Intermediate	Longer-term
Program Staff, Funding, Materials	Deliver pregnancy prevention program in 10th grade classrooms	Twelve sessions delivered to four classrooms, 100 students reached 500 condoms distributed	Increased knowledge Increased refusal skills	Delayed initiation of sex Improved attitudes/values Increased condom use	Reduced teen pregnancy & STI rates in target community

Where to begin? When planning a new program, creating a logic model can be extremely useful to help think through how each activity will affect the intended outcomes of the program. It can help to ensure that causal links are reasonable, and can provide you with an easy way to identify what may be missing. Logic models can also be very useful for existing programs.

When developing a logic model for a new program, ask yourself and other program stakeholders the following questions:

• What is our long-term desired result?
• What will be different as a result of this program?
• What must happen in each preceding step to get us there?

When developing a logic model for an existing program, ask yourself and other program stakeholders the following questions:

• What is it that we do?
• What do we hope to accomplish?
• What does our program consist of?
• Who do we reach?
• What results/outcomes are we looking for?

How do you know which outcomes to measure?
As mentioned above, logic models can be extremely useful for showing us what to evaluate. Once you have created your program logic model ask yourself and other program stakeholders the following questions in order to identify which program outcomes to measure. For each outcome listed, ask

• Is it reasonable to believe that the program can influence this outcome?
• Would measurement of this outcome help to identify program successes and help pinpoint and address problems or shortcomings?
• Will the program's various audiences accept this as a valid outcome of the program?

What are some other resources on logic models?
This is just a brief overview of logic models and the example provided above is a simplified one. There are different types of logic models and many resources to help you get started. Below are some excellent resources on logic models.

The United Way of America's Outcome Measurement Resource Network offers information and resources related to the identification and measurement of program- and community-level outcomes. http://national.unitedway.org/outcomes/

Douglas Kirby of ETR Associates has written an excellent article entitled, "BDI Logic Models: A Useful Tool for Strengthening and Evaluating Programs to Reduce Adolescent Sexual Risk-Taking, Pregnancy, HIV and Other STDS." This article is available in PDF format at: http://www.etr.org/recapp/BDILOGICMODEL20030924.pdf.

The Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (ReCAPP) has created an online course on Behavior-Determinant-Intervention (BDI) logic models. This course is free and is available on their website at http://www.etr.org/recapp. It is also available on CD.

If you have questions about evaluation, would like assistance, or would like to request an Evaluator's Corner edition on a particular topic, please contact Lisa Malley, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 W. 33rd St., New York, NY 10001. Phone: 212-261-4628. Fax: 212-247-6269. Email: lisa.malley@ppfa.org.