Tailoring and Planning Evaluation

Health Care -- Tailoring and Planning Evaluation

Research shows that there are several basic considerations to be addressed in any effective program evaluation. Those considerations include identification of the evaluation's stakeholders, given the program to be evaluated. These stakeholders can contribute greatly to the evaluation's focus and can benefit considerably from the evaluation's collected data/findings.

The Considerations that would Potentially Guide Evaluation Planning for the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP)

Evaluation planning for the CTCP could be potentially guided by considerations of: who should be involved in operating the evaluation; whether the evaluation should be an outcome evaluation or a process evaluation; whether the evaluation's top priority should be revealing weaknesses of the program or developing lessons for future improvement (Aubel, 1995, p. 20). Since the CTCP'S program is a developmental program, its interests would appear to be best served by the learning process approach. (Aubel, 1995, p. 13). As mentioned previously, the CTCP's established practices and relatively long history lend themselves to "process evaluation" (Anonymous, Common conceptual and methodological frameworks - Powerpoint presentation, n.d.), which Powell defines as "looking at how something happens rather than or in addition to examining outputs and outcomes" (Powell, 2006). In contrast to the more traditional "Blueprint Approach," the "Learning Process Approach" features: a purpose of measuring quantitative achievement and developing lessons that can be integrated into the program; a scope of data collection that uses holistic analysis, allows additional questions and dimensions to arise through a continual learning process; data collection methods that are both qualitative and quantitative and use subjective judgment; delegate responsibility for data collection to program stakeholders, including the program's own managers and implementers (Aubel, 1995, p. 15). In addition, through the article of Metcalf et al. focuses on Genetics Education, they are able to simplify evaluation to three key components, including: an evaluation question reflecting the program's goals, with data collection and analysis geared to answering that question; a comparison between the program and another approach to determine whether the program is impactful and/or an improvement over the other approach; a judgment or assessment of the program's value (Metcalfe, Aitken, & Gaff, 2008, p. 171).

The Various Stakeholders in the Program Evaluation, Their Respective Interests, and the Negotiations Likely to Follow Between the Evaluator and These Entities