As you engage in a task, you will want all your efforts and energies to go in the right direction. How do you ensure this? Yes, exactly; you ensure this by doing evaluation research. As a researcher, you take some breaks during the task and see whether you are going in the right direction or not. From the early phases of the research until after the research is completed, the process of evaluation is an iterative process. It is used to evaluate the research concept and collect data to improve the solutions given.
As you are here reading this article, it is pretty clear that you want to learn more about evaluation research. Well, you have come to the right place. In today’s post, we will talk about what this research is, its purpose, and the factors related to it. Hence, let’s start with the definition of this research.
What Is Evaluation Research?
Evaluation research is a systematic investigation or assessment of the value of time, resources, effort, and money spent to achieve a goal. This research is also called program evaluation research and is different from social research. It employs many methods that are used in conventional research. However, being research that takes place mostly in organisations, it requires some extra skills, like team, interpersonal, and management skills. When conducting this research, it is also important that you respect the interests of stakeholders. Hence, this is all about an evaluation or program evaluation research.
What Is The Purpose Of Evaluation Research?
Many students ask the question, “Why should they do an evaluation study?” This question is pretty valid because it is not part of the original research study. Well, to answer this question, we must first learn the purpose of this research study. The primary purpose of evaluation studies is to determine whether or not the process has achieved its goal. It also measures whether or not it has yielded anticipated results. In addition to this, the common goal of evaluation research is to extract meaningful information from the audience about the process. You can say it is a kind of feedback-collecting research. Hence, this is the main purpose of this research.
Important Factors To Know When Doing An Evaluation Study
When conducting an evaluation study, you need to know some important factors. Knowing about those factors is important because, without those, you cannot conclude the research and say whether or not you have spent your efforts in the right direction. So, what are those important factors to know? A brief description of those is as follows:
1. Output/Performance Measurement
The first factor that you need to know is the output measurement or performance of the program or the process which you are evaluating. To measure this factor, the researcher pays attention to the results achieved by the resources invested in carrying out the research process. Along with this, you must also know the effectiveness and impact of the process.
2. Input Measurement
The next factor that you need to know about is the number of resources that you spent to carry out the evaluation research. This is a very common factor to know because it allows the organisation or the researcher to know how much he has invested in the whole process. To have the know-how of this factor, you must look at the budget of the process.
3. Impact Assessment
Factor no. 3 that you need to know to conduct this research is the impact of the process that it has left on its users. As a researcher, you get to know how the service has affected the target market either directly or indirectly. This factor is difficult to know because it is based on real-time data.
4. Service Quality
The 4th factor that you need to know to evaluate a program or process is service quality. This factor accounts for the differences between the expectations of the target market and their assessment or impression of the process. Therefore, in the measurement of this factor, you pay attention to the overall service quality of the program or process.
Uses Of Evaluation Research
- This research is used by organisations to measure the effectiveness of their developed programs and processes.
- The findings of this research serve as evidence that the program or process is impactful.
- It is useful in pragmatic goal-setting and realisation.
Conclusion
It is the research that helps you determine the effectiveness of the effort and resources on the product. It ensures that the product adds value to the target market. Hence, evaluation research is an important factor that helps you test the product before and after its launch. When doing this research, make sure that you know the factors mentioned above.
Author Bio:
Albert Barkley is the author of this article. He is working with the best dissertation firm The Academic Papers UK from where students can buy dissertation online without being worried about the quality.