Western > Resources > Planning and Best Practices > Step 7 > Evaluation 7

VII. Implementing the Evaluation

The evaluation implementation plan is a system for collecting evidence of program effectiveness. Writing an implementation plan will help you make sure you are collecting the information that you need in a timely and efficient way. The implementation plan describes the logistics of the data collection, and should address the following issues:

1. Who is responsible for developing the instruments?
2. When do the instruments need to be finalized?
3. Who will collect the data? Will the data be collected by program staff? Will volunteers be needed? Will you hire people to collect the data? Your data collectors may need training or other support to collect the information effectively. If staff are collecting additional information, be sure to support them by seeing the time spent on evaluation as a part of their workload.
4. What is the schedule for data collection?
   • When will the information be available?
   • When can the information be conveniently collected? When will it be least disruptive?
   • Where will the information collection take place?
   • When will data collection start and end?
5. Who will tabulate, organize, and analyze the information?
6. When will reports be generated?
7. Who will write the reports?

A. Who's Responsible for the Evaluation? Internal Vs. External Evaluations

Evaluations that are done by staff or volunteers who are also working for the program being evaluated are sometimes called internal evaluations. Evaluations done by hired consultants are sometimes called external evaluations. Another popular model for doing evaluations involves a combination of these two approaches, and is called participatory evaluation. Participatory evaluation usually, although not always, involves an external evaluator who works closely with program management, staff, volunteers, and participants to design the evaluation. The pros and cons to internal and external evaluations are summarized in the table below:

B. How to know if you need an Evaluation Consultant or Contractor

Although we believe that most programs can and should be engaged in their own internal program evaluation activities, there may be occasions in which the assistance of an evaluator is necessary. Here are some situations in which you might want to consider hiring an evaluation consultant or contractor:

1. The evaluation you want to do requires more time than program staff and volunteers can provide.
2. The program is "under fire" from outside critics, and the results of an internal evaluation might be subject to criticism.
3. You need statistical assistance in analyzing your data.
4. You need help in designing a questionnaire, survey, or other data collection instruments.
5. Your program is highly complex, and there are major disagreements about what the evaluation should focus on.

C. Finding and selecting a good consultant

Depending on your program's situation and needs, you will look for different kinds of skills in an evaluator. The table below (adapted from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation) helps to identify the kinds of skills you might need to look for, depending on your program's situation:

Previous | Outline