Focus Your Evaluation

Like focusing a camera before taking a picture, focus your evaluation BEFORE collecting data.  What will you evaluate?  What do you and your stakeholders want to know?   Don’t jump to deciding upon a survey or using focus groups UNTIL you know what you want to know.  Focusing an evaluation on a set of critical questions you want answered is key to successful evaluation.

• Focus Your Evaluation (33 slides;  681KB ) - This PowerPoint covers critical decisions about what you will evaluate, your evaluation purpose, what you and others want to know, key questions the evaluation will answer, indicators, and your evaluation design. 
• Logical Logic Models (25 slides, 518 KB) - Logic models are used in evaluation to help describe the program that we will evaluate in order to better focus the evaluation and collect useful information. This brief PowerPoint was developed for a 4-H Youth Development Youth Emphasis Wisline Web presentation.
• Enhancing Program Performance with Logic Models - This self-instructional online module provides many examples and interactive activities to increase your understanding and use of logic models.
• Logic Model Templates - Word and Excel format templates located on the Program Development and Evaluation web site.
• Sample 4-H Youth Development Logic Models - View some logic models developed by 4-H Youth Development colleagues.
  • Teaching about the Environment(1 page, 45KB) - Prepared by Jessica Jens, 4-H Youth Development Educator.
  • Developing Youth Leaders (1 page , 43KB) - Prepared by Jessica Jens, 4-H Youth Development Educator.
  • 4-H Club Leadership (1 page, 46KB) - Prepared by Jessica Jens, 4-H Youth Development Educator.
  • Reducing Underage Drinking (1 page, 20KB ) - Prepared by Annie Lisowski, 4-H Youth Development Educator.
  • Technology and Safety (1 page, 20KB) - Prepared by Annie Lisowski, 4-H Youth Development Educator.
• Outcomes and Indicators (2 pages, 120 KB) - This chart shows indicators for various outcomes related to the 4-H Youth Development Essential Elements that were used to construct the survey questionnaire used in the 2006 Arts and Communications statewide evaluation.
• Evaluation Designs Common in Youth Programs - Brief description and examples of  post-only; pre-post; retrospective pre; pre-post with comparison group and experimental control using random assignment.

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