استمارة البحث

Ask an Advisor Answers

Question:
I am currently preparing for my culminating project to graduate with my MPH. For my project, I am hoping to evaluate our state's rural health association as I work in the rural health field and was excited to loop in my existing professional interests.

My question is, would evaluating a professional association such as of rural health professionals, follow the same principles of evaluating a coalition or an issue-based initiative? I know most of their efforts are put toward advocacy, networking, and education if that is helpful for context.
Answer:

 
             The short answer to your question is “Yes,”  and this would be the basis for a longer answer as well. 
              The basic idea in almost all evaluation situations is to agree upon the indicators that would demonstrate success in your particular case, and then to agree upon methods for measuring those indicators.        
               So in your situation for example, what are the indicators that seem most relevant for judging the success of a rural health association?  Once you and your constituents (e.g., the members, and perhaps the clients)  have agreed upon these, that’s half the battle.
            Beyond that, there are many other common general principles of evaluation that apply, regardless of  the specific entity you are evaluating. You can find many of them in the Community Tool Box, largely in Chapters 36-39.  One good place to start would be Chapter 36, Introduction to Evaluation, at https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation.  Take a look at the different sections within this Chapter if you haven’t done so already.
            We hope this much may be helpful to you.  Congratulations in advance on your MPH -- and best wishes for a successful evaluation project that will benefit all those you serve.

Question Date: ثلاثاء, 03/14/2023