Good evaluations start with a set of important questions that you or someone else will try to answer with the data that are collected. Developing effective evaluation questions should be a group endeavor. Bring your staff together to discuss your program’s intended program and outcome goals. The group can then discuss whether—and how—your planned activities and processes will lead to the realization of these goals or outcomes. Spend some time developing the milestones or benchmarks that must be reached along the way. These benchmarks will help you decide what you should be seeing in the short term and the long term to help you reach your goals and can guide you in developing appropriate evaluation questions that are aligned with your program activities and goals. Spending time in the development of sound evaluation questions and an associated evaluation plan increases the likelihood that your evaluation will yield convincing evidence about how your program has succeeded, as well as information that you can use to improve it.
Consider your program’s goals, whether funders require you to report on specific information (e.g., levels of participation, program quality, or youth outcomes), and the range and nature of the activities you offer. Are you serving more young people or are youth accessing your program more often and attending in higher numbers than before? Perhaps you are interested in understanding if some activities are more effective than others. What changes in youth knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors do you expect (or hope) will result from their participation in program activities? Are some activities more popular than others? What do participation levels tell us about the quality and the popularity of programs? Are you interested in knowing more about the quality of your programs or if some aspects of your program are stronger than others? What strategies are your staff members using to engage youth in activities?