There are no two ways about it: Well-designed evaluations cost money. Just how much money depends on the experience and education of your evaluator, the type of evaluation required, and the geographic location of your program. A good rule of thumb is to budget 10 to 15 percent of available funds for evaluation. Are there ways to cut corners and evaluate for less? Yes, but unfortunately, low-budget assessments tend to produce results with little validity. How, then, can you save money without compromising the worth of your findings? Here are some suggestions:

• Look for a qualified but inexpensive evaluator. Faculty at colleges and universities are a good bet. They might consider making the evaluation a project for one of their classes. They may also have access to students who can act as paid research assistants but who earn less than other evaluation staff. Be sure, however, that the faculty member will be closely supervising any students who participate in the study.
  
  
• Look for an evaluator who may be able to get independent funding through a separate grant or contract to conduct the evaluation. This is rare but not unheard of. The chief drawback is that you may have to wait—sometimes several months—to see if this can be done before proceeding with the study.
  
  
• Explore other incentives. For example, look for an evaluator who is interested in branching out and trying new things. Sometimes an evaluator will work more cheaply in order to have an opportunity to do research on a new topic.
  
  
• Look for an evaluator who has experience evaluating programs like yours. Again, this will save money because the evaluator is already familiar with instruments, design issues, and other aspects of the study.
  
  
• Start small. Narrowing the scope of your evaluation will save costs without compromising outcomes. One way to do this is by limiting your evaluation to specific target audiences. So, for example, if your program aims to affect both students and parents, you might study its impact on only one group. You can study the other group when you have more resources. Another way to save money is by focusing on intermediate outcomes, since long-term outcomes are usually more difficult to assess. If you are involved in a drug-education program, for example, you might focus at first on whether program participants learn new information about drugs. Then, if you get positive results, you could look at the long-term outcomes when more funds become available.
  
  
• Use a collaborative model. As mentioned on Day 2, having staff carry out some evaluation tasks (like survey monitoring or data entry) reduces costs.
  
  
• Ask the evaluator to price components of the evaluation. This will make it easier for you to drop particular elements or make informed decisions about how to spread around the work.
  
  
• Estimate cost before specifying an amount in your funding proposal. If you pick a number more or less out of the air—say $30,000, you are going to get proposals for studies that cost close to that amount. But there may be a chance that you could get the study done for substantially less. Sometimes your future funder will help you estimate appropriate costs. Ask them to look at what they want from the evaluation and give you a ball-park estimate of what it should cost. You can also hire an evaluator just to do a cost estimate.

Keep in mind that despite the cost, investing in evaluation can save you time and money over the long haul. With the information you learn from a worthwhile evaluation, you can focus your resources on the most critical problems facing your community and the most effective countermeasures. However, you are much more likely to collect this information if you partner with a knowledgeable evaluator who understands your program and with whom you can work comfortably.

Please proceed to Activity 4:
Managing an Evaluator/Minimizing Costs.

References

Harding, W. (2000). Locating, hiring, and managing an evaluator. Newton, MA: CSAP's Northeast CAPT.

Thompson, N. J. and McClintock, H. O. (1998). Demonstrating your program’s worth: A primer on evaluation for programs to prevent unintentional injury. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

W. K. Kellogg Foundation. (1998). Evaluation handbook. Battle Creek, MI: Author. Available online at http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub770.pdf.

U.S. Department of Transportation (May, 1999). The art of appropriate evaluation: A guide for highway safety program managers (DOT HS 808 894). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.