Practice Research Partnerships in Social Work by Fouché Christa

Author:Fouché, Christa [Fouché, Christa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Research, Social Work
ISBN: 9781447314011
Google: QN0aBwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2015-02-11T03:31:31+00:00

Designing evaluation research projects

All research is about answering questions, and evaluation research is no exception. Posavac (2011) states that, although there are a range of models for evaluation that seem to differ greatly, all evaluations depend in part on the characteristics and expectations of the stakeholders involved. The purpose of an evaluation can be three-fold, aiming to gather information for improving the design, development, formation and implementation of a programme (formative evaluation); describe the process of a programme as it is being developed (process evaluation); or assess the impact, outcome or worth of a programme (summative evaluation) (Scriven, 1999; Duignan, 2002; Hall, 2008). Programme evaluation was originally focused on measuring the attainment of goals and objectives, that is, finding out if a programme ‘works’. This has come to be called summative evaluation, which originally relied heavily on experimental designs and quantitative measurement of outcomes. In recent years, programme improvement (formative) evaluation has become at least as important and pervasive as summative evaluation (Patton, 2002). To ensure that the matters of greatest significance are covered in the evaluation design, the project focus is best formulated through interaction and negotiation with the evaluation sponsors and other stakeholders or with those distinctly positioned in relation to decision making. This is the value of a well-designed collaborative practice evaluation: that the design meets the evaluation needs, but also enables the joint endeavours of critical objective questioning and practice-relevant focus that will ensure that the findings will make a difference in practice. The different types of programme evaluation will be present across the programme life cycle. This may happen intentionally over a predetermined period of time or over a number of years at different times in the life of a programme and be performed by different evaluators, independently of previous evaluation efforts. The different types of evaluation across a programme’s life cycle can be visually presented as in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1: The varied purposes of evaluation research

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