When conducting an evaluation, it is important to consider the following five components:

Effectiveness -The extent to which aims and objectives are met
Appropriateness -The relevance of the intervention to needs
Acceptability -Whether it is carried out in a sensitive way
Efficiency - Whether time, money and resources are well spent, given the benefits
Equity - Equal provision for equal need
(Naidoo & Wills, 2000) 

There are 5 types of Evaluation

1. Formative: Pre-implementation testing and refinement.(needs assessment, community assessment, networking) ***linked to planning process
2. Process: Implementation of strategies (methods for continuous improvements, also a lot of bean counting) ***linked to action / implementation plan
3. Impact: Short term changes (knowledge, attitude, behaviour) ***linked to objectives, and are more measureable
4. Outcome: Long term changes (health conditions) ***linked to attainment of goals, harder to measure, requires long term surveying
5. Economic: was the money well spent? Did you get value for money in terms of the outcomes. ***linked to implementation and objectives.

In working out what to evaluate, it is important to directly link your program goals and objectives to the different types of evaluation:

• the strategy objective is measured by process evaluation;
• the program objective (and sub-objective) are measured by impact evaluation; and
• the program goal is measured by the outcome evaluation.

Evaluation Steps

Wilson & Wright (1993) suggest the evaluation process involves the following steps:

• Reflecting & planning;
• Gathering information;
• Analyzing & interpreting;
• Judging the findings
• Reaching conclusions; and
• Improving, modifying, and implementing the change.

What to Measure and How

It is critical that evaluation focuses on the goals and objectives of the program. The quality of program design can make or break the evaluation. If the aims and objectives are not measurable, then it becomes very difficult to conduct a sound evaluation with a focus on whether or not the program achieved its aims, was a success and so on.

Does your program have clear aims and objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART objectives). What tool might you use to measure them? What tool might you use to measure them?