Written questionnaires and interviews can be used to collect baseline data to measure program success. Questionnaires or interviews can be used before and after program implementation to survey students, teachers, administrators, parents, counselors and support staff regarding their attitudes about conflict, the school environment, how they feel about interpersonal relationships, etc. Survey responses, pre and post-implementation, can be compared to see if there are any changes that can be attributed to the implementation of a school conflict management program. Again, other events at your school could affect responses and should be taken into account in any assessment. In addition to statistics, written questionnaires and interviews there are other tools that can be used to assess program outcomes.
Action research is another technique for conducting program assessment.
This approach involves systematic problem identification and solution where we learn from our own situation as we try to modify and improve it. If it is not possible to administer written questionnaires or conduct interviews prior to implementation, a post-implementation questionnaire or interview can still be used to collect valuable information to assess program outcomes. From the responses one could distill themes that could be used in measuring program outcomes. Statements or testimony from key program participants can be quite effective in providing interested persons with information about your program. Although testimonials do not provide quantitative data, they can give people a strong indication as to how participants feel about the program and the impact that the program is having on the school environment.