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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

PROGRAM EVALUATION  

 


Five Basic Evaluation Questions

Evaluation is organized around 5 basic questions:

  1. What outcomes will be assessed (your Program Objectives)?
  2. What measures will be used to indicate attainment of outcomes? 
  3. Who will be evaluated?
  4. What data will be collected?
  5. How will data be analyzed?

 

These questions with examples of each component are summarized in the following Table.

COMPONENTS OF AN OUTCOME EVALUATION

Evaluation Component

Evaluation Question

Examples

Outcome Objectives

What outcomes will be assessed?

a) Academic Performance
b) Attitudes/beliefs
c) Satisfaction
d) Program implementation
e) Course offerings

Indicators

What measures will be used to indicate attainment of outcomes?

a) Reaching a criterion
b) Change in attitude, skill, behavior
c) Activity completion
d) Group comparisons

Population to be evaluated

Who will be evaluated?

a) Students
b) Faculty
c) Administration
d) Community members

Data Sources

What data will be collected?

a) Program records
b) Student records
c) Tests
d) Survey/Questionnaires
e) Observations
f) Interviews

 

Data Analysis

How will data be analyzed?

a) Qualitative analysis
1) Self-reports
2) Documentation
3) Description
4) Case Study

b) Quantitative analysis
1) Group comparison
2) Group change
3) Individual change
4) Comparison to population/reference
5) Analysis of relationships

 

 

Types of Evaluation:

There are two basic types of evaluation:

 

FORMATIVE EVALUATION:

Done to help improve the project itself.

 

SUMMATIVE EVALUATION:

Done to determine what results were achieved.