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Select a Professional Development Module:
Key Topics Strategy Scenario Case Study

Introduction  |  Step 1  |  Step 2  |  Step 3

Step 1: Identify the goals and broad questions that underlie your evaluation.

Everything in an evaluation must proceed from the evaluation's goals. Typically, the evaluation's goals are about seeing if the project's goals are being achieved. For example, if a project involves using a new instructional method to increase student learning, an obvious evaluation goal would be to see if the use of the method does in fact lead to that. The evaluation goal typically differs from the project goal in that it is more focused. This greater focus owes to its being centered on what can be reasonably investigated through the collection and analysis of data.

Evaluation goals should in turn be the foundation for a set of broad, overall evaluation questions. Answers to those broad questions are sought through the administration of data collection instruments such as questionnaires. Table 1 below is an example of how broad evaluation questions proceed from project goals and evaluation goals.

Table 1. Example of evaluation questions proceeding from project and evaluation goals.

Nature of Project Project Goal Evaluation Goal Evaluation Question
The piloting of a curriculum unit in a university biology course that is centered on student use of scientific modeling tools To increase students' inquiry skills To determine whether the project is a more effective vehicle for building students' inquiry skills than other methods being used in the course in different units. Are students making more progress building their inquiry skills in the pilot unit than in the other units?

A questionnaire should only be used in the evaluation if the information obtained from it helps answer the broad evaluation questions and hence helps you advance toward meeting your evaluation goals.