Guideline: Focusing the evaluation design
Definition
Planning in advance where the evaluation is headed and what steps will be taken; process is iterative (i.e., it continues until a focused approach is found to answer evaluation questions with methods that stakeholders agree will be useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate); evaluation questions and methods might be adjusted to achieve an optimal match that facilitates use by primary users.
Role
Provides investment in quality; increases the chances that the evaluation will succeed by identifying procedures that are practical, politically viable, and cost effective; failure to plan thoroughly can be self-defeating, leading to an evaluation that might become impractical or useless; when stakeholders agree on a design focus, it is used throughout the evaluation process to keep the project on track.
Activities
o Meeting with stakeholders to clarify the real intent or purpose of the evaluation;
o Learning which persons are in a position to actually use the findings, then orienting the plan to meet their needs;
o Understanding how the evaluation results are to be used;
o Writing explicit evaluation questions to be answered;
o Describing practical methods for sampling, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and judgment;
o Preparing a written protocol or agreement that summarizes the evaluation procedures, with clear roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders; and
o Revising parts or all of the evaluation plan when critical circumstances change.
See also Guidelines: How to conduct a useful M&E action