Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability
Background: Evaluability assessment (EA) emerged in the 1970s as a way to ensure a program was ready for summative evaluation. The primary purpose was assessing the presence of measurable program objectives (Trevisan, 2007), yet evaluators conducting EA encountered difficulty with unclear, ambiguous...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University
2014-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.sfu.ca/jmde/index.php/jmde_1/article/view/395 |
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| author | Joseph Hare Timothy Guetterman |
| author_facet | Joseph Hare Timothy Guetterman |
| author_sort | Joseph Hare |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Evaluability assessment (EA) emerged in the 1970s as a way to ensure a program was ready for summative evaluation. The primary purpose was assessing the presence of measurable program objectives (Trevisan, 2007), yet evaluators conducting EA encountered difficulty with unclear, ambiguous methods (Smith, 2005).
Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to clarify two aspects of evaluability assessment, organizational support and data availability. In practice, organizational stakeholders must support the evaluation project to ensure it is pursued to completion. In addition, the availability of operational data facilitates analysis of the evaluand effect.
Setting: Participants from both human services and corporate organizations participated in interviews. Participants worked on evaluation projects serving in three roles: organizational stakeholder, program evaluator, and information technology personnel.
Intervention: NA
Research Design: A qualitative research design was selected to best understand the experiences with regard to organizational support and data sufficiency of individuals who have engaged in evaluation studies and to understand how these domains affected their ability to conduct an evaluation.
Data Collection and Analysis: This study consisted of purposive sampling of 13 participants serving various roles to add breadth to the data. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed the data using thematic analysis.
Findings: The findings indicate the importance of specific organizational and data related considerations that affect evaluability. The researchers recommend considerations that elaborate upon the existing EA framework. The recommended evaluability considerations assist evaluators in identifying ill-advised evaluations and enhancing the likelihood of success in ongoing studies.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d29b0e418935454281f03e4532da71f7 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1556-8180 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation |
| spelling | doaj-art-d29b0e418935454281f03e4532da71f72025-08-20T02:50:00ZengThe Evaluation Center at Western Michigan UniversityJournal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation1556-81802014-07-01102310.56645/jmde.v10i23.395Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data AvailabilityJoseph Hare0Timothy Guetterman1Center for Learning Innovation, Bellevue UniversityDepartment of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-LincolnBackground: Evaluability assessment (EA) emerged in the 1970s as a way to ensure a program was ready for summative evaluation. The primary purpose was assessing the presence of measurable program objectives (Trevisan, 2007), yet evaluators conducting EA encountered difficulty with unclear, ambiguous methods (Smith, 2005). Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to clarify two aspects of evaluability assessment, organizational support and data availability. In practice, organizational stakeholders must support the evaluation project to ensure it is pursued to completion. In addition, the availability of operational data facilitates analysis of the evaluand effect. Setting: Participants from both human services and corporate organizations participated in interviews. Participants worked on evaluation projects serving in three roles: organizational stakeholder, program evaluator, and information technology personnel. Intervention: NA Research Design: A qualitative research design was selected to best understand the experiences with regard to organizational support and data sufficiency of individuals who have engaged in evaluation studies and to understand how these domains affected their ability to conduct an evaluation. Data Collection and Analysis: This study consisted of purposive sampling of 13 participants serving various roles to add breadth to the data. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings indicate the importance of specific organizational and data related considerations that affect evaluability. The researchers recommend considerations that elaborate upon the existing EA framework. The recommended evaluability considerations assist evaluators in identifying ill-advised evaluations and enhancing the likelihood of success in ongoing studies. https://journals.sfu.ca/jmde/index.php/jmde_1/article/view/395evaluability assessmentorganizational stakeholdersdata availabilitydata qualityqualitative |
| spellingShingle | Joseph Hare Timothy Guetterman Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation evaluability assessment organizational stakeholders data availability data quality qualitative |
| title | Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability |
| title_full | Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability |
| title_fullStr | Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability |
| title_short | Evaluability Assessment: Clarifying Organizational Support and Data Availability |
| title_sort | evaluability assessment clarifying organizational support and data availability |
| topic | evaluability assessment organizational stakeholders data availability data quality qualitative |
| url | https://journals.sfu.ca/jmde/index.php/jmde_1/article/view/395 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT josephhare evaluabilityassessmentclarifyingorganizationalsupportanddataavailability AT timothyguetterman evaluabilityassessmentclarifyingorganizationalsupportanddataavailability |