Deck 14: Evaluation: What Is It Why Is It Needed How Does It Relate to Theory

Question 1

What are three basic reasons to evaluate a program?

Answer 1

Evaluation is a way one carries through the use of behavioral and social theory to a point where it can be determined whether any difference has been made by a whole process. The whole process includes assessment of a situation, identification of the factors to address and the use of the relevant theory along with the assessment to implement and plan the relevant theory and an intervention.
Evaluation of a program is done for the following reasons:
1. Accountability- It responds to the need of the public in order to show that there is some effect of the resources/cost invested in a program.
2. Learning and Improvement- What is working and what is not can be determined using the evaluation data, during the conduction of the program. It provides the feedback through which changes can be made as the program proceeds.
3. Theory- The validity of a theoretical linkage can be tested. A model approach/program, whose effectivity in some other situation has been demonstrated, can also be tested.

Question 2

How does evaluation help you understand whether a theory is applicable or useful?

Answer 2

Evaluation is a technical term that uses social and behavioral theory to the extent where one can determine whether the whole process made a difference or not. The process could be reviewing a situation, recognizing the factors to tackle, and using the assessment along with theory to plan and implement the intervention under study. Evaluation is linked to theory in order to test the validity of a theoretical linkage.
Evaluation is usually done to test applicability of theory under study, process. Process evaluation refers to evaluating the process of implementing a project and knowing whether it was a success or not.
In case of a theory-based intervention which is usually based on the phases of change model. The usefulness of theory may depend on periodic assessment of intervention participants that is done in order to identify their current stage as the intervention components are linked to a stage for every participant.
The intervention under study, if, is not as efficient as expected, process evaluation can easily determine whether it was due to improper implementation of the assessments or not. This can turn out to be very useful information as one can understand that the problem was not because of theory or intervention design but due to details of implementation.

Question 3

What in the current public health program environment makes evaluation an imperative, on top of the other important reasons for doing it?

Answer 3

It is noted that these days a significant emphasis is given on evidence and accountability when dealing in the public health environment. In simple words, if funding has to be maintained for a particular health program, some evidence has to be accounted that the program is actually addressing the issue that it has been developed for.
This recent situation in public health, environment has made evaluation extremely significant. An agreement was developed among the research and practitioner community in the l980s, which states that better evaluation techniques were needed in order to improve program planning and efficiency.
It was only after that the evaluation of health promotion and behavioral interventions became a serious norm. Since, the formation of PART (program assessment rating tool) and GPRA (government performance and results act), accountability requirements have become a significant part of local and global health promotion and intervention programs.
GPRA and PART generally involve agencies that extend and implement performance monitoring and other additional accountability procedures to ensure that public funds are not wasted and used properly.

Question 4

What are the three basic types of evaluation, and what is the purpose of each?

Question 5

What is a logic model, and how does a logic model help you connect theory to outcome or impact?