good practices for effective evaluation
good practices for effective evaluation from the Council on Foundations
https://www.cof.org/content/35-keys-effective-evaluation
8. Start early. When evaluation is planned at the same time the program is planned it can contribute to overall program design. Nothing sharpens program planning better than having to answer the basic evaluation questions:
What are you really trying to do with this program?
What is going to happen that can tell you whether or not you have succeeded?
How will you know if it happens or not?
9. Don't try to evaluate everything. Try to get everybody to focus on the essential first question: "What is most important for us to find out?" A clear statement of how the evaluation is linked to the purposes and the open questions of the program should be made part of the evaluation's records. Articulating what you choose to evaluate and why is, in itself, a very useful part of the process.
10. Be flexible. Allow for change or expansion in midstream if program objectives change or evaluation data show an important new direction for inquiry. Preliminary findings may show an unexpected program result - a "side effect" that may in the end be one of the most important outcomes of the whole program experience. Such findings deserve more evaluation attention.
11. Insist on evaluations that do not just count the hours that shine. Evaluations should of course not be hatchet jobs, but neither should they be valentines. It is important to suspend judgment a little bit and to tolerate disappointments as well as successes.
12. Evaluate at the level of the people who will ultimately be affected by the program. The most trustworthy and useful evaluations are those that get answers directly, rather than from other institutions and professionals.
13. See that your evaluations take a longer view over time. Longitudinal studies, annual reviews, and follow-ups after an initial study are much more revealing than a one-time shot. A cycle of interaction between programs and their evaluations can be set up: program planning, program experience, evaluation, learning, and then back to program planning.
14. Place more value on indications of behavior than on opinions. The most important part of evaluation planning is determining the best available indicators of success; the strongest indicators are those that show behavior.
15. Look not only at the quality of a program (whether it's good or bad) but also at its worth (whether it's needed).
16. Respect previous work. A good evaluation builds on what is already known.
17. Use a variety of evaluation methods for different purposes or sometimes side by side for verifying or contrasting. Combine quantitative and qualitative; get some numbers and some personal, documentary accounts.
18. Squeeze everything you can out of an evaluation. Compare, contrast, break down, and look at the impact of variables in several ways.
19. Use evaluation as a chance to bring grantees together. Evaluate clusters of grants and encourage these grantees to share ideas, information, and reactions.