Depending on what you want to accomplish through evaluation, some approaches may require a big investment of time or money. We’ve worked with some clients who have chosen a different approach, which was recently described in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Someone May Have Already Paid for Your Program Evaluation. By reviewing existing studies that relate to your strategy, you might find evidence of effectiveness that you don’t need to replicate. Take caution, however. Consider: Is the study from a credible source? Does it cover everything you intend to cover? Is it totally applicable to your strategy? Is it a culmination of many studies?
Taking these questions into consideration, you should be able to deem whether a past study is the right fit for describing your own results. This can often prove to be a much more cost-effective alternative to starting your own evaluation from scratch.Depending on what you want to accomplish through evaluation, some approaches may require a big investment of time or money. We’ve worked with some clients who have chosen a different approach, which was recently described in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Someone May Have Already Paid for Your Program Evaluation. By reviewing existing studies that relate to your strategy, you might find evidence of effectiveness that you don’t need to replicate. Take caution, however. Consider: Is the study from a credible source? Does it cover everything you intend to cover? Is it totally applicable to your strategy? Is it a culmination of many studies?
Taking these questions into consideration, you should be able to deem whether a past study is the right fit for describing your own results. This can often prove to be a much more cost-effective alternative to starting your own evaluation from scratch.