Even if the evaluation reveals results below the set criteria, the stakeholders are more likely to understand the issues and possible reasons for problems, if they have previously needed to understand these factors in setting the criteria. Use Needs Assessment and Formative Evaluations to provide information about target markets and to assist the project development and implementation by providing tools for making informed decisions. The more information available, the more informed adjustments can be made, and the more likely that the summative evaluation will not reveal major surprises. Try to measure components where the measure is clearly defined, appropriate to your tasks, and measurable changes are a reasonable possibility. An otherwise successful project may not be accurately reflected if the measures are inappropriate.
Careful planning is key to successful summative evaluations.
This is because determining the possible outcomes and developing criteria need to occur well in advance of the completion of the project to be evaluated. ATL can provide support for planning and implementation of this type of evaluation. Evaluation Designs Below are some of the more common designs that can be used for evaluations, especially summative evaluations. With this method applied research techniques are used to examine the factors of interest. This design centers around comparing more than one group on a defined set of variables.