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About the Evaluation Questions Library Guide

Authors: Hallie Udelson, Lori Wingate, and Goldie MacDonald.

This Library Guide includes a selection of open access materials on evaluation questions from a variety of authors, organizations, and settings. Evaluation questions define what will be addressed in a program evaluation. They provide the focus and establish boundaries for the inquiry.1 A prominent evaluation theorist and practitioner explained, "clarification of and discrimination between the various types of questions which evaluations undertake to answer is absolutely fundamental to getting a useful answer at all."2

The authors completed a detailed literature search and careful review of approximately 100 candidate items; each item below meets predetermined criteria of merit, relevance, and accessibility. This Library Guide includes materials in four categories as follows: Introduction to evaluation questions; How to develop or use evaluation questions; Evaluation questions linked to evaluation approaches, designs, or criteria; and Discussion of evaluation questions in specific contexts.

Introduction to evaluation questions

• Wingate L, Schroeter D. . Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University; 2016.

• Davidson EJ. . Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation. 2015;11(24):i-x.

• Rogers P. . In: Evaluation Interest Group's Speakers Forum. United States Agency for International Development. Published January 18, 2013. [Video].

• Robinson SB. In: Sheila B Robinson. Published January 18, 2014. [Blog].

How to develop and use evaluation questions

• Taylor-Powell E, Steele S, Douglah M. In: Planning a program evaluation. Madison, WI: Cooperative Extension of University of Wisconsin. Extension item G3658-1. 1996; 5-20.

• . BetterEvaluation website. Published 2016.

• United States Agency for International Development. . Published July 31, 2015.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2009:4.

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation. . In: W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide. Battle Creek, Michigan: W.K. Kellogg Foundation; 2004:35-48.
  • This resource requires an email address to download the PDF.

• Rogers P. Linking evaluation questions to strategies and approaches. United States Agency for International Development. Published January 14, 2013. [Webinar].

Evaluation questions linked to evaluation approaches, designs, or criteria

• Morra Imas LG, Rist RC. . In: . Washington, DC: World Bank; 2009:221-246. DOI 10.1596/978-0-8213-7891-5.
  • This resource is available in Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese, English, and Spanish.

• Morra Imas LG, Rist RC. . In: Washington, DC: World Bank; 2009:247-288. DOI 10.1596/978-0-8213-7891-5.
  • This resource is available in Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese, English, and Spanish.

• MacDonald G, Martens K, Wingate L. . In: EvaluATE Webinar Series. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University. Published November 20, 2013. [Webinar].

• United States General Accounting Office. Types of design. In: Designing Evaluations. Gaithersburg, MD: United States General Accounting Office. Item GAO/PEMD-10.1.4. 1991:30-69. Has been superseded by the .

• International Program for Development Evaluation. . In: International Program for Development Evaluation Training Handbook. International Program for Development Evaluation; 2007:225-251.

• World Health Organization. . In: WHO Evaluation Practice Handbook. Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2013:18-25.

• Stern E, Stame N, Mayne J, Forss K, Davies R, Befani B. . In: Broadening the Range of Designs and Methods for Impact Evaluations. Department for International Development working paper 38. Published April 2012:36-48.

• EuropeAid Co-operation Office Joint Evaluation Unit. . In: Evaluation Methods for the European Union's External Assistance. Methodological Bases for Evaluation; vol 1. Luxemburg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities; 2006:43-65.

Discussion of evaluation questions in specific contexts

• RMC Research Corporation. . Washington, DC: Office of Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of Education; 1986:54-230.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. . In: WISEWOMAN Evaluation Toolkit. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2015:11-31.

Author affiliations and disclaimer

Author affiliations:

Hallie Udelson is an Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Fellow in the Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development; Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Lori Wingate is the Director of Research at The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, USA.

Goldie MacDonald is the Associate Director for Evaluation in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, USA .

Disclaimer:

The findings and conclusions in this guide are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.