Advanced Program Evaluation
Course Description:
Learners will take on the role of a staff member at the Middleton County Health Department who is tasked with helping to develop an evaluation plan for an obesity-prevention program recently launched in Middleton County. Using the CDC Program Evaluation Framework, learners will connect each step of the framework with a section of the evaluation plan, going into detailed discussion about: incorporating stakeholders, logic models and evaluation questions in the process; characteristics of different research designs for evaluation and considerations for choosing an appropriate design; options for data collection methods and sampling; and thinking through threats to validity. Additionally, the learner will review strategies for conducting rigorous evaluations within constraints of budget, time, and resources.
Learning Objectives
For a given public health program evaluation plan, trainees will be able to:
- Appreciate that a comprehensive evaluation plan addresses a program logic, stakeholders, evaluation questions and evaluation design.
- Assess advantages and limitations of evaluation designs, including randomized, quasi-experimental and pre-post designs.
- Appraise and compare options for data collection methods, measures and sampling strategies.
- Identify and address associated threats to validity.
- Identify strategies for addressing budget, time, data and political constraints in evaluation practice.
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