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Evaluate: Resources
Evaluate: Resources
This section offers video tutorials and relevant readings to introduce the role of evaluation in an intervention project, as well as providing basic and key concepts to plan and execute a behavior change intervention project.
Basics of Evaluating Interventions
Basics of Evaluating Interventions
Thinking about how to Evaluate
Considering how to determine success is a key part of the entire process of developing and implementing a behavior change intervention project. This video examines this task by outlining the role of evaluation in intervention design.
Designing an Evaluation Strategy
This video explores some of the factors to consider when designing an evaluation strategy. As a project unfolds it will be important to understand the variety of factors that will shape what is evaluated and the methods to do so.
Evaluation Tools and Approaches
This video provides an overview to evaluation approaches, as well as how to utilize different tools at different stages of a project to inform evidence-based decision making. Strategically applying evaluation in this way can be crucial.
Data Collection & Analysis Strategies
Data Collection & Analysis Strategies
There are different approaches to gathering data and analyzing it in order to determine the impact of your intervention and ways to improve it. These approaches are defined by the type of information they collect and the ways that they use the information to make meaning of the intervention being evaluated. Below we describe three different types of methods that can be applied in your evaluation efforts.
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative methods involve working with non-numerical, or often text-based, data in order to make meaning of concepts, perspectives, and experiences. The article by Needleman & Needleman (1996) provides an introduction to various considerations for using qualitative methods in your intervention research design, as well as the benefits that they can provide.
Quantitative Methods
Quantitative Methods
Quantitative methods emphasize numbers and statistics, using mathematical and computational techniques to measure trends, relationships, and other insights. The paper by Handley et al. (2018) provides an introduction to the most commonly used quasi-experimental designs (QEDs) in health promotion intervention research that use both an intervention and a control or comparison group to analyze the effectiveness of an intervention. If no control or comparison group are available and the intervention focuses on only a few participants, single-case designs can be valuable alternatives, if they adhere to certain standards of rigor as outlined in the paper by Kratochwill et al. (2013).
Mixed Methods
Mixed Methods
Mixed methods designs blend qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis in order to explore and explain a specific research problem. The reading by Nastasi et al. (2007) considers how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in intervention research designs, as well as the benefits that they can provide.
Evaluating Your Target Audience
Evaluating Your Target Audience
Thinking about who is the focus of your intervention is important throughout your process, from brainstorming responses to the prompts of the Intervention Web to beginning to design your intervention strategy. In the evaluation step, you will want to consider not only the methods that you will use to obtain information but also determine who you want to collect information from to evaluate your intervention.
Introduction to Sampling
Introduction to Sampling
A first step to investigating your target audience is to determine a sampling strategy. Sampling is a technique to select members of a larger population that can give you relevant information about what you are attempting to evaluate. The video to the left, as well as this website, provide an overview of what sampling is, different strategies to utilize, and considerations for how to approach sampling in your evaluation process. The Matrix of Sampling Strategies below breaks down options for a potential sampling strategy that could be used to interview different groups of individuals depending on their behaviors in order to make a comparison that suggests the possible effectiveness of your intervention.
A further way to collect information about your target group, or evaluate their behaviors, is through observation. Observation enables the researcher to discover details about of specific behaviors in the contexts in which they happen. In this way, observation can provide valuable insights as to not only what is happening that is preventing your target behavior, but also why it is occurring. The reading by Guest et al. (2013) describes participant observation techniques and why it can be beneficial in intervention design and evaluation.
Matrix of Sampling Strategies
Matrix of Sampling Strategies
Once you have a sample and have possibly conducted an observation, you will also want to think about how you generalize the insights that you gain about your target audience to a broader population. The article by Polit & Beck (2010) explains different approaches to generalizing the results of your evaluation.
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