Designing Evaluation Processes

There are a number of ways of approaching evaluation. In the definition section, we have looked at the range of conceptual approaches. Here we will help you with a practical selection procedure.

The criteria you use to design an appropriate evaluation focus upon resources and knowledge. If you do not have the resources it is difficult to carry out sophisticated evaluation procedures.

We might start thinking about evaluations in terms of:

Desperation Model
Economy Model
Mid-range Model
Top of the range model
Designer model

When you have decided on your starting point, you can then begin the process of setting up an evaluation procedure.

Desperation Model

You are under pressure to carry out evaluations but:

You know very little about the topic
No one has given you any money
No one has given you any time
And there is little support

Action

The survival kit

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Economy Model

Your resources are very limited.

You do not know a great deal about the detail of evaluation.
You do not have any money for research resources
You do not have much spare time for the task

But there is an imperative to do something.

Action

Cost-benefit

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Mid-range Model

You have some resources but not many

You understand a bit about the evaluation area or
You have colleagues who will be able to help
You have some time you can allocate to these tasks
You can scrounge a bit of money to get some help or
You have some graduate students who need a bit of experience

You are probably looking at this Web site to see if there is anything practical you can utilise. Maybe you should look at the various sections on actually building an evaluation model.

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Top of the range model

You are reasonably flush

You have a good grounding in various aspects of evaluation
There is adequate money to be found
You have allocated time for this task
You have access to research students in evaluation / education

Your interest in this site is probably to take a critical look at how we have aproached the issues. Maybe you are looking for some new ideas. Unless you think it is a total disaster (and tell us why), please refer colleagues with less experience than yourself to this resource.

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Designer model

You are on top of the world

There are no problems in doing this sort of thing

Your interest in this site is probably to take a critical look at how we have aproached the issues. Unless you think it is a total disaster (and tell us why), please refer colleagues with less experience than yourself to this resource.

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