What do we mean by choosing questions? ___Evaluation questions are the questions your evaluation is meant to answer about your work ___Evaluation questions help set the direction of the work, as well as assess its effectiveness ___Ideally, choosing evaluation questions is part of the planning of the overall program Questions to ask yourself as you choose evaluation questions: ___What do you want to know? ___Why are you interested? ___Is the issue you’re addressing important to the community or to the society? ___How does the issue relate to the field? ___Is the issue general, rather than specific to your population or community? ___Who might use the results of your evaluation? ___Whose issue is it? Why is it necessary to choose evaluation questions carefully? ___It helps you understand what effects different parts of your effort are having ___It makes you clearly define what it is you’re trying to do ___It shows you where you need to make changes ___It highlights unintended consequences ___It guides your future choices ___In participant evaluations, it involves stakeholders in setting the course of the program, thus making it more likely that it meets community needs ___It provides focus for the evaluation and the program ___It determines what needs to be recorded in order to gather data for evaluation When should you choose questions and plan the evaluation? ___If possible, choosing questions and planning the evaluation should be an integral part of planning your program ___If your reality makes that impossible, choosing questions and planning the evaluation should take place as soon as possible after the program starts Who should be involved in the process? ___To the extent possible, the process should involve all stakeholders, including program participants and beneficiaries How do you choose questions? ___Describe the issue or problem you’re addressing ___Describe the importance of the problem ___Describe those who contribute to the problem ___Assess the importance and feasibility of changing those behaviors ___Describe the change objective ___Make sure that the expected changes would constitute a solution or substantial contribution to the problem How do you plan the evaluation? ___Take into account the issues raised by multiple or very different settings ___Take into account the issues raised by participant groups that differ in culture, ability to complete the program, geographical location, and other factors For outside evaluators, specifically: ___Choose a setting ___Learn as much as you can about the organization you’ve chosen ___Contact the appropriate person(s) and request an interview ___Plan and prepare for the initial meeting For all evaluators: ___Find out all you can about the context ___Establish trust with program administrators, staff, and participants ___Aim for a participatory evaluation ___Plan the evaluation in collaboration with stakeholders Consider all the elements of an evaluation in your planning: ___Information gathering and synthesis ___Designing an observational system ___Developing and testing a prototype intervention ___Selecting an appropriate experimental design ___Collecting and analyzing data ___Gathering and interpreting ethnographic information ___Collecting and using archival data ___Encouraging participation throughout the research ___Refining the intervention based on the evaluation ___Preparing the evaluation results for dissemination
