Program Evaluation Basics
CDC Evaluation Resources:
- CDC Health Workplace Health Promotion - Survey format options: It is important to select an evalution method that works for the particular organization, as response rates and honesty will contribute to meaningful information for program and policy decisions. This table offers detailed pros and cons for each potential format.
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook: A thorough handbook that provides a framework for thinking about evaluation as a relevant and useful program tool.
- The Community Toolbox – Evaluating the Initiative: This part of the Community Tool Box provides a framework and supports for developing an evaluation of a community program or initiative. It includes an outline for evaluating the initiative; an outline with Community Toolbox resources; examples of evaluating the initiative; quick tips and tools; and online evaluation resources.
Sample Evaluation Tools
- Rand Surveys and Tools
- Safe Sleep Observation Assessment Tool from National Association for the Education of Young Children
- Assessment tools from YMCA: Community Healthy Living Index (CHLI) contains assessments for six key community settings: afterschool child care sites, early childhood programs, neighborhoods, schools, work sites, and the community at large. Each assessment contains questions about policies and practices that support healthy lifestyles; each question provides a "best practice" or improvement idea for sites to implement. Tools are available in English and Spanish.
- CDC Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium of Assessment Tools
- CDC/Violence Prevention: Bullying, particularly among school-age children, is a major public health problem. This compendium provides researchers, prevention specialists, and health educators with tools to measure a range of bullying experiences: bully perpetration, bully victimization, bully-victim experiences, and bystander experiences.
- CDC Youth Violence: Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools - Second Edition: This compendium provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences, as well as to evaluate programs to prevent youth violence.
- National Resource Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention Evaluation Toolkit and Logic Model Builder: The Evaluation Toolkit was developed to help program managers, administrators and interested others develop and implement evaluation processes that will be useful in day-to-day practice, and to help provide evidence that their programs make meaningful differences to children and families. The Toolkit is meant to be a resource for developing an individualized evaluation plan from the ground up. In addition, with the Federal Government’s greater emphasis on demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency for all programs, including child abuse prevention, the toolkit is an important resource to help States and local programs meet increased demands for accountability.
- Annie E. Casey Foundation Handbook of Data Collections Tools
- Organizational Research Services: Practical advice for capturing and documenting influences and leverage in a Making Connections community. This guide provides clarification, concrete examples and suggested approaches for documentation of these often elusive concepts.
- Public Communication Campaign Evaluation: An Environmental Scan of Challenges, Criticisms, Practice, and Opportunities: This report presents what has been happening in the field of public communication campaign evaluation in recent years. It examines evaluation challenges, criticisms, and practice and includes sections on relevant theory, outcomes, and useful methods for designing evaluations. It ends with opportunities for the road ahead.
- Performance Measurement for Public Health Policy: APHA and the Public Health Foundation (PHF) have worked collaboratively to develop this tool to help health departments and their partners assess and improve the performance of their policy activities. While other performance measurement and evaluation guides exist, this is the first tool to focus explicitly on performance measurement for public health policy.
- Download the tool
- Download the template that health departments can fill-in with their own activities and measures.
Assessing the Impact of Community Awareness Campaigns
Social Media Campaigns and Evaluation Tools
Survey Tools
Twitter Metric Tools
Web page analytics
Evaluating Collaboratives