An encyclopedia entry that introduces evaluation as a discipline… evaluation
Category Archives: EPSE 591 Program Evaluation
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EPSE 591 Readings
what is impact evaluation?
Thanks to google and a question raised in my program evaluation class, here are some short definitions and links to more elaboration. As I said in class, impacts sound like outcomes to me (perhaps longer term ones), but I see that the term is appropriated by the causation through experimentation evaluation crowd.
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Impact evaluation assesses the changes that can be attributed to a particular intervention, such as a project, program or policy, both the intended ones, as well as ideally the unintended ones.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_evaluation
A type of outcome evaluation that focuses on the broad, long-term impacts or results of program activities. For example, an impact evaluation could show that a decrease in a community’s crime rate is the direct result of a program designed to provide community policing.
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/glossary/glossary_i.htm
A form of outcome evaluation that assesses the net effect of a program by comparing program outcomes with an estimate of what would have happened in the absence of a program.
www.epa.gov/evaluate/glossary/i-esd.htm
Sometimes associated with the establishment of causal attribution between a development Activity and immediate, intermediate or longer-term outcomes or results.
nzaidtools.nzaid.govt.nz/evaluation-and-activity-cycle/definitions
measures the programs causal effect on the outcomes it seeks to achieve. The specific technique for estimating impacts varies according to the setting but all methodologies center on ways of constructing a plausible comparison or control group to establish the counterfactual.
www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Social_safety_net
a scientifically rigorous methodology to establish a causal association between programs and what they aimed to achieve beyond the outcomes on individuals targeted by the program(s).
www.globalhivmeinfo.org/DigitalLibrary/Digital%20Library/Glossary%20of%20Monitoring%20and%20Evaluation%20Terms.doc
It is usually undertaken at the end of an intervention to determine overall achievements in relation to the stated objectives. It attempts to establish a cause and effect relationship to show the extent to which the intervention has resulted in changing the circumstances of the target beneficiaries.
www.cop-mfdr-africa.org/forum/attachment/download
A study of the attribution of changes in the outcome to the intervention. Impact evaluations have either an experimental or quasi-experimental design.
www.3ieimpact.org/userfiles/file/Impact%20Evaluation%20Glossary.doc
A Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions
This guide provides the reader with a five-step process for involving stakeholders in developing evaluation questions, and includes a set of four worksheets to facilitate this process. Good resource written by Hallie Preskill.
Download the Engaging Stakeholders Guide.
Paul Taylor, Normative Discourse
Taylor argues that normative discourse can be distinguished from “scientific, mathematical and historical discourse, and from any other ‘universe’ of discourse in which language is used for purposes other than making and justifying of evaluations and prescriptions.”
Chapter 1 The Process of Evaluation
Chapter 3 Justification of Value Judgements
Chapter 4 Value Systems and Points of View
Chapter 7 The Concept of Prescribing
Chapter 8 Prescribing and Evaluating