Program Evaluation and Methodology

Introduction: State the topics that will be covered in this section.
Organization description: Describe the program or service (program focus, resources, population, clients served, and the theory of change). Include a description of the stakeholders and evaluation purpose.
Research questions and hypotheses: Revisit research questions and hypotheses established in the Unit 3 assignment, Research Literature Review.
Definition of variables and terms in the study: Define your major variables in a clear and concise manner, and distinguish between independent and dependent variables. Every variable that is identified in the research questions should be defined clearly in this section in terms of what it is and how it will be measured.
Description of the methodology (study design).
Explain whether your study is qualitative, quantitative, or both and whether it is cross-sectional (single point in time) or longitudinal (more than one measure from the same people).
Explain how you are going to determine the efficacy of your program (for example, pre-tests and post-tests, comparison to a similar group of people not receiving program services).
Explain if you are comparing the group getting the intervention to any other group on the outcomes of interest (a control or comparison group).
Explain if you are using more than one source of data to triangulate measures of your outcome of interest (for example, rates of participation, qualitative interviews, and a satisfaction survey).
Explain why this method of program evaluation and methodology is best practice (as compared to other possible models).
Sampling procedures.