Evaluation Designs

Authors

Clare Rose

Date of this Version

Spring 1980

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in the POD Quarterly. Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1980)

Abstract

The evaluation models described in previous issues of the Quarterly represent some of the major paradigms of educational program evaluation; they have been used to guide many evaluations and they have influenced the thinking of many practicing evaluators. Models provide a broad base for designing evaluation activities by offering a framework and conceptualization that guides both the focus of the evaluator and the orientation of the evaluation. But models do not provide strategies for implementation. Guidelines are provided by the design, which establishes the conditions and procedures for collecting the data required to answer the questions of concern. The design must be related to the type of program or service being evaluated; that is, the selection of a particular design is guided by the decisions that will have to be made as a consequence of the data. In turn, the adequacy of a particular design can be determined by the extent to which the results may be interpreted and the questions answered. In most cases, evaluation designs have been borrowed from research.