Download the full Evaluation Guide as a pdf documentAnnex 3
Your Health, Your Care, Your Say - a case example of evaluation1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
When to start evaluation
There were two main parts to the YHYCYS evaluation:
- criteria for success and basic data collection and analysis (e.g. participant questionnaires circulated at all deliberative events, computer analysis of findings from the questionnaires) were planned into the process from the start by the Central Office of Information (COI), who were part of the YHYCYS project team;
- an independent evaluation commissioned by the Department of Health in November 2005 (carried out by Diane Warburton, Shared Practice), although the evaluator had already been invited to observe the main deliberative event (the Citizens Summit in October 2005).
Evaluators were not involved in helping to set the objectives for the YHYCYS initiative overall, although the need to collect feedback data from participants (and data from other sources, e.g. a public opinion poll to measure public awareness at the beginning and after the Summit) was recognised and put in place during Step 1 of planning the engagement process (see page 7), and the COI was involved in the core planning / design group that managed the initiative throughout.
Measuring success
The brief for the evaluation spelled out the criteria for the stated objectives and were further developed by the independent evaluator to cover the implicit objectives. The criteria, how to interpret those, and the evaluation method for gaining the appropriate information, are given at the end of this annex.
The criteria and how they should be interpreted were fairly complex, with key issues to be investigated and various levels of detailed criteria below that (all of which were used to develop the questions for interview). The table below summarises these various levels of criteria.