Program Evaluation

BHRS designs program evaluations or implements previously planned program evaluations that need to be carried out by an independent evaluation service. 

We believe in:

• Working with the people providing the services to determine what are possible and desirable outcomes of their work

• Using responsive evaluation strategies that result in immediate feedback and have clear and immediate implications for the services we study

• Developing several small rapid-yield studies that provide immediate formative input that can be used to make changes and improvements as needed

• Using both qualitative (talking and process-oriented) and quantitative (numbers and outcome-oriented) approaches to our work

• Using many sources of information to answer questions

• Establishing several distinct criteria to define and measure success

We do this by:

• Talking to lots of people who are involved in different aspects of the project we study

• Respecting the knowledge and expertise of those who deliver services

• Asking for stories and contexts

• Requesting that service providers collect information from those they serve

• Asking for data (numbers)

The steps we take to do evaluation are:

• Identifying goals the evaluation can meet

• Developing a plan for meeting these goals

• Implementing the plan with the help of those providing the services we are studying

• Double-checking that the plan is working

• Fixing the plan if it does not work in the real world

• Collating and organizing the information we received

• Interpreting the information in terms of what it means for the services we study

• Giving feedback to the service providers about what works well and how improvements can be made

• Listening to the service providers after they received our feedback

• Starting all over until all goals are met