Formative Evaluation: A Practical Guide
How to effectively have an evaluation with user feedback is the main topic within this article. The point of formative evaluation is to gain feedback from users during the design and development stages so that items that need to be changed or created can be done before they are put into practice.
Neal believes that there are four stages to formative evaluation. These stages are planning the sessions, conducting the sessions, compiling the results, and prioritizing the results from the sessions. She believes that during these sessions that there should be at least two evaluators present in order to have one recording information and one asking questions and guiding the evaluations so that all information needed can be gained.
When looking at the different stages, planning is important so that you can first review the goals of the project and look at who will be using the product created. When conducing the sessions, she believes that the evaluators need to make sure to ask questions so as to obtain useful information, not just simple yes or no type answers. When compiling the results she suggests that the results are reviewed as soon as possible so that the information can be reviews and make any additional notes that could be used in the next sessions. Finally when reviewing all the information and prioritizing the results it is noted that when looking at the information the importance of what needs to be changed and what can be left alone must be decided. Some aspects will be more important than others and the most important points should be addressed first.
Neal, Lisa (2006, November 20). Formative evaluation: A practical guide. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from eLearn Magazine Web site: http://www.elearnmag.org.subpage.cfm?section=tutorials&article+25-1