Introduction to Outcome Evaluation

Outcome Evaluation is the examination and assessment of a program’s effectiveness. This form of evaluation helps us understand if there is evidence to suggest a program is causing change in the desired impact or outcome. Impact or outcome assessments of program effectiveness are most useful when attempting to demonstrate whether a program seems to be working.

To conduct such an assessment, data should be collected in order to demonstrate that there are observed changes in the program’s population. An assessment of program effectiveness is often conducted using quantitative methods and is usually characterized as the program’s outcome evaluation. The quantitative method most commonly used is surveys (pre- and post-tests).

The documents below are evaluation tools used to evaluate various programs. Agencies looking for survey questions to use in their own prevention efforts may be inspired by these surveys.

Sample Surveys: