Types of evaluation
There are two main categories of evaluation: formative and summative, which enccompass three further “types”:
- process evaluation
- outcome evaluation
- impact evaluation
Formative evaluation
Used to assess quality assurance. It involves examining
- how a project, service or programme is run and the issues that have been encountered in its delivery and organisation (process evaluation)
- who is reached by the project, service or programme and who benefits from it (impact evaluation)
Summative evaluation
Used to establish
- whether intended outcomes have been achieved
- cost effectiveness
- to demonstrate that an effect or outcome can be attributed to a particular initiative rather than other variables
all of which contribute to outcome evaluation.
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