Common use of Types of Evaluation Clause in Contracts

Types of Evaluation. In the evaluation of a program there are essentially two types of evaluation to be distinguished: process evaluation and product evaluation. Process evaluation is considered to be the evaluation of the functioning of a program. Questions to be answered might be “‘which activities are deployed within the program’, ‘what type of clients participate in the program’, ‘which clients leave the program before completion’ and ‘which segments of the program require improvement’” (21, p377). Several types of process evaluation have been established, one of them being evaluation of implementation, to establish whether or not a program has been implemented as planned. Another type of process evaluation is the so-called formative evaluation, through which strengths and weaknesses of the program are identified. This is commonly done by asking clients and staff of the program about the quality of aspects of the program (21). Product evaluation addresses the results of a program by establishing meaningful change in clients. Product evaluation can be related to certain norms or standards that are supposed to be reached, or it can be aimed at the establishment of the presence of change, either in a prospective or retrospective design. In a prospective design at least two measurements are taken: one before the start of the program and one after completion of the program. In a retrospective design there are only post- program measurements taken. The most commonly known and used type of product evaluation is effect evaluation, which is deployed to establish not only the presence of change but also the presence of a causal relationship between the program and the observed change (21). As such this type of evaluation requires the use of a control group. Usually, control groups are constructed in one of three ways: post hoc, at the beginning of a program through a matching process or through randomized assignment (true experiment). Typically, random assignment is viewed as the best approach (17; 43). To determine the success of a program obviously product evaluation and especially effect-evaluation is important. Unless it can be established that a program results in positive change in clients ánd that this change can be ascribed foremost to the program under evaluation, the success of a program remains uncertain. For this purpose the ideal choice is that of a Randomized Controlled Trial with a baseline and post-intervention measurement. However, process evaluation is important to establish the level of implementation of a program, because this, in turn, may influence the effects of the program (41). If, for instance, certain aspects of the program were not implemented or were implemented to a lesser extent, or if they were implemented in a different manner than planned, this may influence the outcome. It is therefore important to deploy both types of evaluation in order to be able to fully understand the impact of a program. In this study we recognize this importance. An extensive process evaluation of our intervention will therefore be presented in chapter seven. In this paragraph we will continue on effect-evaluation. For proper effect-evaluation it should first be established which effects are desired and which effects can be expected based on the design of the program at hand. Therefore we will first address the objectives of this study.