Choosing and Working with an Evaluator: Resources for Social Service Professionals and Others
The Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas has built an extensive guide to identifying community needs,
finding solutions to community problems, building programs to meet those needs, and evaluating and improving the program. Everything you need to know about the steps of
the entire process is in this toolbox. Be ready for a long read! There are 46 chapters each with up to a dozen or so sections. Each section fills several computer
screens and includes dozens of links to other resources. And if you want to go deeper, there are extensive reference lists to academic articles and books. Work your
way through all of this and you will know everything we at Community Empowerment Research knows, except for the nuances of research design or the details of statistical analysis.
Here is an excellent PowerPoint from KU on what Community Change means and the basic definitions of terms. (Clicking
the link will download the powerpoint. Click on the download to view the presentation.)
Directly related to the point of this page on choosing evaluators is their discussion of
"Choosing Evaluators".
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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD.
This document provides guidance toward planning and implementing an evaluation process for for-profit or nonprofit programs – there are many kinds of evaluations
that can be applied to programs, for example, goals-based, process-based and outcomes-based. Nonprofit organizations are increasingly interested in outcomes-based
evaluation. Read More
From the Centers for Disease Control, this book shows program managers how to demonstrate the value of their work to the public,
to their peers, to funding agencies, and to the people they serve. The purpose is to show
that managers and staff need not be apprehensive about what evaluation will cost or what
it will show. In this book, they show why evaluation is worth the resources and effort
involved. They also show how to conduct a simple evaluation, how to hire and supervise
consultants for a complex evaluation, and how to incorporate evaluation activities into
the activities of the program itself. By learning to merge evaluation
and program activities, managers will find that evaluation does not take as much time,
effort, or money as they expected. Read More
Linda Langford, Sc.D., and William DeJong, Ph.D., April 2001.
Prevention coordinators are under increasing pressure to evaluate programs. The reason boils down to a single word: accountability.
This 3-page flyer describes the role of evaluation in program planning and
implementation; skills, expertise, qualifications, and experience to look for
when seeking an evaluator; incentives for the evaluator; questions to ask when
considering an evaluator; and how to network to find the right evaluator. The
flyer also describes five publications available through the Higher Education
Center that can provide an introduction to evaluation basics. While the
information in this flyer describes how to select an evaluator for AOD
prevention set in a higher education context, most of the information is
applicable to all settings. Read More
This guide, created by the U.S. Department of Transportation, includes information on
different types of evaluation, methods, planning an evaluation and hiring an evaluator. It
describes how organizations and coalitions can develop and utilize an evaluation
strategy to make their programs successful and effective. This booklet first describes
the purpose of evaluation as well as the myths and facts about the evaluation process. For
instance, contrary to popular opinion, evaluations do not have to be time consuming
and expensive to be useful. The booklet describes in detail four stages or types of
evaluation (formative, process, outcome, and impact) and the two methods that can
be used – quantitative and qualitative. The booklet describes the process to be used
for planning an evaluation, as well as what to look for if hiring an evaluator.
Organizations can use this to learn how to integrate
an evaluation into their overall plan, thereby making their efforts more targeted
and effective. Read More
Prepared by The Program Review Office of the Government of
the Northwest Territories, Canada, 2015. This guide is designed to help
those who are planning to work with a consultant to conduct an evaluation. It
outlines steps to take to ensure an effective partnership and a useful, credible
product. This guide is broken down into three sections: planning your project,
processes for finding and choosing an evaluation consultant, and working with
the consultant effectively. Read More
Checklists are useful tools for evaluators because they are versatile, mnemonic, reduce the chances of
overlooking important factors, reduce biases such as halo effect, and increase the defensibility of evaluation findings. This site includes an array of
evaluation checklists that may be useful for social service professionals, such as Key Evaluation Checklist, and Evaluation Contracts Checklist. The Key
Evaluation Checklist describes in detail all the items a thorough, final evaluation report should contain. The Evaluation Contracts Checklist was
designed to help evaluators and clients identify key contractual issues and record agreements for conducting an evaluation in advance. Also included on this
website are guidelines for checklist development, and an in-depth examination of the checklist approach to evaluation for those interested in the theoretical and
methodological underpinnings of checklists. Read More
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