Major Types of Program Evaluation

Some Major Types of Program Evaluation
When designing your evaluation approach, it may be helpful to review the following three types of evaluations, which are rather common in organizations. Note that you should not design your evaluation approach simply by choosing which of the following three types you will use -- you should design your evaluation approach by carefully addressing the above key considerations
1. Goals-Based Evaluation
2. Process-Based Evaluations
3. Outcomes-Based Evaluation

Four Levels of Evaluation:
There are four levels of evaluation information that can be gathered from clients, including getting there:1. Reactions and feelings (feelings are often poor indicators that your service made lasting impact)2. Learning (enhanced attitudes, perceptions or knowledge)3. Changes in skills (applied the learning to enhance behaviors)4. Effectiveness (improved performance because of enhanced behaviors)
Usually, the farther your evaluation information gets down the list, the more useful is your evaluation. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to reliably get information about effectiveness. Still, information about learning and skills is quite useful.