Northeast > Resources > Topic Specific > Assessment and Evaluation > Minimizing evaluation costs

What are some ways I can minimize the costs of evaluating my program?

Many variables influence the cost of evaluation. Don't try to save money by doing such an inexpensive, low-level evaluation that the results have little validity. It is probably best not to do an evaluation if you cannot find a way to fund a study that will generate valid results. Results that can be dismissed by attributing them to extraneous factors are usually not worth having. How else, then, can you save money?

• 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 have access to students who can act as paid research assistants and who earn less than other "regular" 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 funding (a grant or contact) for the evaluation. This is rare but not unheard of. The chief drawback is that you will have to wait to see if this can be done before proceeding with the study. This might take months.

• Look for an evaluator with other than monetary interests in doing the evaluation and drive a hard bargain. 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 is experienced in evaluating programs like yours. This will save money because the evaluator is already familiar with instruments, design issues, and other aspects of the study.

• Start small. You can focus the evaluation to save costs.

- If your program aims to affect both students and parents, you might opt to save money by studying the impact on only one group. You can study the other group when you have more resources.
- Consider focusing the evaluation on intermediate outcomes if the long-term outcomes will be 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. If you get positive results, then you could look at the long-term outcomes when more funds become available. It is key to note that if short-term and intermediate outcomes are not positive it makes no difference what the long-term outcomes are. If you can't show that participants' knowledge about drugs increased when that is the method the program uses to change drug use, then you can't take credit for any reductions in drug use that occur among program participants. The explanation would be that something else accounts for the change in behavior.

• Use a collaborative model for the evaluation in which program staff, rather than evaluation staff, carry out some research tasks. For example, having program staff distribute and collect student pretest and posttest questionnaires is usually less expensive than having evaluation staff perform this task. These tasks should always be conducted according to instructions provided by the evaluator.

• Ask the evaluator to price components of the evaluation, so you can consider saving money by dropping elements or doing more of the work in some elements.

• Estimate cost before specifying an amount in an RFP. If you pick a number more or less out of the air-you are going to get proposals for studies that cost close to that amount. But perhaps you could get the study done for substantially less money. So, how can you estimate the cost? You can ask the funder for help. Ask them to look at what they want from the evaluation and give you a ball park estimate for the study. You can hire an evaluator just to do a cost estimate. This could be a good investment.

This FAQ is derived from the Northeast CAPT's training manual Locating, Hiring, and Managing an Evaluator by Wayne Harding. (Click here to see the course descrtiption)

Please contact the Northeast CAPT at capt@edc.org for more information.