Preparing the Groundwork
for
Evaluation
1.6 Anticipate evaluation results
Who will need to see the results?
Consider when planning
the evaluation what stakeholders need to
know, what various responses
could indicate
and their importance to particular groups.
A well designed, well prepared evaluation
will be useful to programmers
and meaningful to all who contribute
towards it
Can results be explained?
Evaluation may not show
what you anticipated. Results may be
negligible or negative.
A positive attitude to evaluation includes, paradoxically,
being prepared for negative results.
Plan for success
but be ready to explain weaknesses and
what they may say about assumptions,
strategies, activities and procedures.
Some
motivations for evaluation, like raising
community support
and fundraising, assume
favourable results. But
negative results can also
motivate staff
and guide program improvement.
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