This is a brief introduction to the field of program evaluation. Program evaluation is the use of social research procedures to systematically investigate the effectiveness of programs. The field of program evaluation and the field of research are very closely linked. The key difference between the two is that in the field of program evaluation, we are making value judgments about program whereas in research the findings are presented for example statistically significant findings but there's not a value judgment attached to those Rossi identified five program domains and this is five areas where evaluation work is done the first is in the area of needs assessments so looking at whether there is a need for a program or service The second is evaluating the design of a program or service. The third is looking at the implementation of a program or service or a process evaluation.
The fourth is looking at an outcome evaluation of a program or service. This is often called a summative evaluation and closely linked to that, but further down. The line is an impact evaluation, and we'll talk about the difference between an outcome and impact evaluation in a moment. And the fifth area is evaluating the efficiency of a program or service. I'm just going to briefly talk about two of the most common ones that you'll find in the area of program evaluation.
The first is a process evaluation, or sometimes called a formative evaluation, and sometimes called an implementation evaluation. And this is really looking at the program as it's being rolled out and asking questions about how it's being rolled out and whether the way it's being rolled out will likely lead to meeting the outcomes as set by the program. So, for example, if we have a program in which there's 15 sessions and they are based on a curriculum, are all the sessions being delivered? Are they being delivered? as they were written?
Are they being delivered in the time sequence that was recommended? Are there factors outside of the actual written curriculum that can impact the delivery of the program? Were the people delivering the program trained well enough? So it asks all kinds of questions related to how a program is being rolled out. What is the...
the rollout of a program and what is hindering the rollout of a program. The next type of evaluation is an outcome evaluation often called a summative evaluation and this is looking at a program and whether the program met the outcomes that it was intended to meet. So if we had a 15 session program designed to increase social skills we want to know did that program actually lead to an increase in social skills among the participants. And we would look at the specific outcomes and evaluate each of those outcomes.
So I just want to briefly talk about impact evaluations as the last point in this brief presentation. So often we hear impact evaluation and outcome evaluation used interchangeably. And while an impact evaluation is looking at outcomes, it looks at more than that. So an impact evaluation really is an evaluation that is looking at long-term and deeper outcomes.
It also is looking at, trying to figure out to what degree can outcomes be attributed to the program that we're examining and to what degree. do we have to credit other things in the environment that may have led to program outcomes? So for example, if you have a program that's focusing on poverty reduction, and we find out that actually, while our program is running, there was also some changes in policy in our favor to help people reduce poverty.
And there was also other programs in the community that were supporting people. We have to try to tease out as best we can, what slice of the pie can we take credit for? Where is credit due in other areas?
The same can be said for outcomes that aren't so favorable. We want to look at what influenced outcomes that weren't very favorable, whether it was policies or other situations happening in the community. So that's just a brief overview of evaluation.
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