workers were best able to apply their new It should have It should make logical “validity”: knowledge on the job? sense in relation to the outcome you want to What were the costs and benefits associated with evaluate. For example, imagine that you choose to administer written pre- and the training? tests for health care workers who are trained to Examples: Did costlier trainings result in greater provide good HIV counseling and testing. The outcomes? Which trainings had the may accurately measure how much most per dollar” in terms of knowledge they gained from the training. “impact outcomes? However, if you’re evaluating the change in health care workers’ on-the-job performance, The focus of your evaluation questions should be driven by your intended use of the evaluation these pre- and post-tests won’t give you the information and your reason for conducting the data you need: they do not have for evaluation. “validity” Examples: measuring a performance outcome. In the Will the evaluation results be used to make complex environments that comprise our global decisions regarding future funding? Will the health systems, the link between knowledge findings guide revisions to the training program and performance can’t be assumed, so this to yield better outcomes? concept of validity is good to keep in mind. An indicator is a data point which helps to measure It should be important and relevant. Because of change in a phenomena or process. Indicators should be carefully selected to ensure that they answer your the resources required to collect, manage and evaluation question. analyze data, your indicator should contain The indicator should be a good reflection of the information that you will use. Avoid the outcome you are evaluating.
workers were best able to apply their new knowledge on the job? What were the costs and benefits associated with the training? Examples: Did costlier trainings result in greater outcomes? Which trainings had the most “impact per dollar” in terms of outcomes? The focus of your evaluation questions should be driven by your intended use of the evaluation information and your reason for conducting the evaluation. Examples: Will the evaluation results be used to make decisions regarding future funding? Will the findings guide revisions to the training program to yield better outcomes? An indicator is a data point which helps to measure change in a phenomena or process. Indicators should be carefully selected to ensure that they answer your evaluation question. The indicator should be a good reflection of the outcome you are evaluating. It should have “validity”: It should make logical sense in relation to the outcome you want to evaluate. For example, imagine that you choose to administer written pre- and for health care workers who are trained to provide good HIV counseling and testing. The tests may accurately measure how much knowledge they gained from the training. However, if you’re evaluating the change in health care workers’ on-the-job performance, these pre- and post-tests won’t give you the data you need: they do not have “validity” for measuring a performance outcome. In the complex environments that comprise our global health systems, the link between knowledge and performance can’t be assumed, so this concept of validity is good to keep in mind. It should be important and relevant. Because of the resources required to collect, manage and analyze data, your indicator should contain information that you will use. Avoid the