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Program evaluation
❖ A systematic assessment of how social service programs
or policies meet the needs of people they are designed to
serve
❖ An assessment of how services have been implemented,
whether programs should be modified or discontinued,
and whether program goals were met.
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Program evaluation
❖ Used to:
- measure the worth of ongoing programs and to estimate
the usefulness of attempts to improve them
- assess the utility of innovative programs and initiatives
- increase the effectiveness of program management and
administration
- satisfy the accountability requirements of program
sponsors
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Program evaluation
❖
1.
2.
3.
May address the following 7 questions:
Is the program accomplishing its objectives?
If the program is not accomplishing its objectives, how
can it be improved?
Should the funding agency continue to fund the
program?
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Program evaluation
4. How does the performance of this program compare
with the performance of similar programs in other
agencies?
5.
Are there more cost-effective ways of accomplishing
the program objectives?
6. Are the clients satisfied with the services they are
receiving from the program?
7. Is the staff satisfied with the services being provided to
the clients?
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Program evaluation
❖ 4 methodologies:
(1) personal interview with staff and clients to identify
issues related to the program
(2) self-administered surveys to assess client satisfaction
with the program or their perception of the program
(3) examination of the program’s case records determine
the demographics of the clients served
(4) experimental research design to look for significant
differences between clients who received services
and those on are on a waiting list
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Program evaluation
Two Kinds
❖
Formative or process evaluation
❖
Summative or outcome evaluation
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Formative evaluation
❖ The process or formative evaluation
- An on-going kind of evaluation that provides
continuous feedback to the program or
intervention
- It describes the intervention, target population,
and staff of a social service project from its
inception
- It helps the research to detect problems early in
the study and to make necessary changes and
modifications before continuing.
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Outcome or summative evaluation
❖ The outcome or summative evaluation
- looks at the final program or intervention outcome
- It demonstrates the extent to which the intervention
worked or failed to work
- posttests and satisfaction surveys are summative
evaluations