Victoria: The Place To Be

DPCD

Home > Research and publications > Evaluation > Planning

• Print this page
• Make text size default
• Make text size large

Planning

The importance of having an Evaluation Plan (or Evaluation Framework) cannot be overstated. Many evaluations fail when, without a plan, they go off track and fail to answer the most important questions.

An Evaluation Plan simply sets out the information that you need to determine if your program’s objectives have been met, together with the methods that you are going to use to collect this information. Ideally, your Evaluation Plan should be prepared when you are establishing your program, though it is also possible to prepare it later in the process.

Steps 4-7 will help you to write an Evaluation Plan. We encourage you to plan your evaluation in-house as you know your program’s information needs best.

If you decide you need the assistance of a contractor, your first opt-out point is after Step 5. At this point you will have defined your evaluation questions and will be able to provide clear guidance to your contractor.

The best way to generate your Evaluation Plan is to hold a workshop with your program team and work through each of the steps below.

Begin by opening the Evaluation Plan Template (DOC 101 kb) and saving or printing the document.

Step 4 – Define your objectives

In most cases the overall purpose of evaluation is to test whether the program has met its objectives (i.e. increased participation, improved planning, etc).

Write down your program’s objectives in the first column of the Evaluation Plan. Or, if you are evaluating only part of your program, write down some specific objectives related to that part.

If you do not have clearly defined objectives, you need to spend more time planning your program before you consider evaluation. The Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium website may assist you in clarifying your program objectives.

Evaluation Plan
Objectives	Questions	Information Required	Data Source
Better and more timely planning and delivery of community services and infrastructure in community X through partnership model.
Increased level of community participation in general activities and governance.

Do not move on until you have a list of objectives - you will not be able to undertake any evaluation without them.

Step 5 – Establish your evaluation questions

Once you have entered your objectives into the template, the next step is to consider all the questions that you will need to answer to determine if each of your objectives have been met.

For each objective, brainstorm your questions with your team, considering questions related to:

What happened?
Were the activities successful?
What could be done better?
What lessons were learned?

Be specific. The questions in the example below may also help to prompt you.

When generating your questions think about what you would like to know, but also consider whether you really need to know this information to assess your work, or if it is just an interesting question. Write the questions in the second column of your Evaluation Plan.

Evaluation Plan
Objectives	Questions	Information Required	Data Source
Better and more timely planning and delivery of community services and infrastructure in community X through partnership model.	What was the model? Who was involved? Was the diversity of the community represented? What was delivered? What was delivered differently because of the model? Has capacity been built to make the model sustainable? What lessons were learnt? Could this model be generalised to other areas?
Increased level of community participation in general activities and governance.	Are more people from a range of backgrounds involved in general activities? Are more people from a range of backgrounds involved in governance?

Once your team is happy with this column, you will have a set of research questions for your evaluation. You will be able to refer back to these to keep you on track throughout your evaluation.

Having established your research questions, this is the first point where you can seek assistance from a contractor. Refer to the Contracting page for further advice and then continue to read through the remaining six steps to understand the process.

Step 6 – Identify the information you require

Once your evaluation questions are written you can consider what information you will need to answer each of your questions.

In the third column, write down the information required.

For example:

Evaluation Plan
Objectives	Questions	Information Required	Data Source
Better and more timely planning and delivery of community services and infrastructure in community X through partnership model.	What was the model? Who was involved? Was the diversity of the community represented? What was delivered? What was delivered differently because of the model? Has capacity been built to make the model sustainable? What lessons were learnt? Could this model be generalised to other areas?	Description of the model List of partners over time Significant organisations not involved in the partnership Audit of services/ infrastructure delivered Partners assessment of what happened differently because of the model Partners assessment of the capacity that has been built and sustainability Partners assessment of lessons High level strategic opinion about the applicability of the findings to other areas
Increased level of community participation in general activities and governance.	Are more people from a range of backgrounds involved in general activities? Are more people from a range of backgrounds involved in governance?	Number of participants, Age groups, CALD, Indigenous etc Number of participants, Age groups, CALD, Indigenous etc

Step 7 – Review your Evaluation Plan

Take a moment to review your Evaluation Plan and ensure that you have established a good set of questions.

If you are evaluating your program as a whole (rather than just one element), it’s a good rule of thumb to check your Evaluation Plan includes some questions on outcomes, achievements and improved processes.

Outcomes

What impact did your program have on the community?

Questions such as…. Have literacy levels improved? Did people transition to permanent work? Are more people involved? Is a better governance structure in place?

Achievements

What did your program deliver?

Questions such as…. How many training programs were run? How many participants were involved? What infrastructure has been built? Who contributed resources?

Improved processes

Did your approach work?

Questions such as…. Was this a good model for delivering this program? Has the model improved how your organisation runs? Were cost savings or efficiencies generated? What was the relative cost and benefit of this model?

Circulate your plan to your staff, management, steering committee, etc to ensure that everyone agrees with the scope.

Your evaluation plan should be reviewed regularly over the life of your program to ensure you are on track and that your evaluation questions remain relevant. You will need to revise and update your evaluation plan if your program objectives change or you modify your activities. This may happen because of a change in your organisation’s priorities or as a result of evaluation findings that lead you to make program improvements. Updating your plan will involve bringing your team back together to go back over the steps outlined in this guide.

By this stage your Evaluation Plan Template (DOC 101 kb) will be near completion. Now complete the Planning Checklist (DOC 94 kb), before moving on to Collecting.

Top