Definition
Evaluation is the structured interpretation and giving of meaning to predicted or actual impacts of proposals or results. It looks at original objectives, and at what is either predicted or what was accomplished and how it was accomplished. So evaluation can be formative, that is taking place during the development of a concept or proposal, project or organization, with the intention of improving the value or effectiveness of the proposal, project or organisation. It can also be summative, drawing lessons from a completed action or project or an organisation at a later point in time or circumstance.
Evaluation is inherently a theoretically informed approach (whether explicitly or not), and consequently any particular definition of evaluation would have be tailored to its context - the theory, approach, needs, purpose and methodology of the evaluation process itself. Having said this, evaluation has been defined as:
- A systematic, rigorous, and meticulous application of scientific methods to assess the design, implementation, improvement or outcomes of a program. It is a resource-intensive process, frequently requiring resources, such as, evaluator expertise, labour, time and a sizeable budget
- 'The critical assessment, in as objective a manner as possible, of the degree to which a service or its component parts fulfils stated goals' (St Leger and Walsworth-Bell). The focus of this definition is on attaining objective knowledge, and scientifically or quantitatively measuring predetermined and external concepts.
- 'A study designed to assist some audience to assess an object's merit and worth' (Shufflebeam). In this definition the focus is on facts as well as value laden judgements of the programs outcomes and worth.
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