CONTENTS

Table of Contents
Introduction

1. Introduction to Evaluation
2. What Does an Evaluation Project Look Like
3. Understanding Types of Evaluation Projects
4. Preparing for Your Evaluation

Supplements
Resources

Evaluation for the Unevaluated:
Program Evaluation 101

Step 3. Hire and train staff

Additional staff needed for the evaluation are typically people who are trained to collect and work with data. Although some of Cool After School's administrative staff could be trained to do this, it is usually too much extra work. Evaluation tasks include:

• Data collection (such as administering surveys and extracting information from records)
• Coding and cleaning (preparing data for statistical analysis) Coding data typically means assigning a numeric value to qualitative data, such as topics raised in focus groups (for example, if you ask what the worst problem in a community is, you could code crime as 1, drugs as 2, etc.). Cleaning data means reviewing it for errors and correcting errors where possible by going back to original documents. If data can't be corrected or verified, they usually are eliminated from analysis. For example, if someone checked "No" on ever using marijuana and then indicated past month use of 5 days, those data would be thrown out.
• Data entry (scanning or keying data into a statistical software package, such as SPSS and SAS)
• Data analysis (systematically applying statistical and logical techniques to describe, summarize, and compare data)