INFORMATION SHEET 3.3-2

Program Evaluation Interpretation and Analysis

Evaluation tools  are effective instruments of evaluation. Its interpretation and analysis are equally important.

In this lesson you will learn how to interpret and analyze data.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Once the evaluation tools has been administered, it is now the time to analyze and interpret the data collected. Analyzing quantitative and qualitative data is often the topic of advanced research and evaluation methods. There are certain basics which can help to make sense of reams of data.

When analyzing data (whether from questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, or whatever), always start from review of your evaluation goals, i.e., the reason you undertook the evaluation in the first place. This will help you organize your data and focus your analysis. For example, if you wanted to improve your program by identifying its strengths and weaknesses, you can organize data into program strengths, weaknesses and suggestions to improve the program. If you wanted to fully understand how your program works, you could organize data in the chronological order in which clients go through your program. If you are conducting an outcomes-based evaluation, you can categorize data according to the indicators for each outcome.

1. Make copies of your data and store the master copy away.  Use  the  Basic analysis of “quantitative” information (for information other than commentary, e.g., ratings, rankings, yes’s, no’s, etc.) copy for making edits, cutting and pasting, etc.

2. Tabulate the information, i.e., add up the number of ratings, rankings, yes’s, no’s for each question.

3. For ratings and rankings, consider computing a mean, or average, for each question. For example, “For question #1, the average ranking was 2.4”. This is more meaningful than indicating, e.g., how many respondents ranked 1, 2, or 3.

How to compute the average or the mean:

  1. Add the points per item per rater
  2. Divide the sum by the total number of raters Example:

Basic analysis of “qualitative” information (respondents’ verbal answers in interviews, focus groups, or written commentary on questionnaires):

  1. Read through all the data.
  2. Organize comments into similar categories, e.g., concerns, suggestions, strengths, weaknesses, similar experiences, program inputs, recommendations, outputs, outcome indicators, etc.
  3. Label the categories or themes, e.g., concerns, suggestions, etc.
  4. Attempt to identify patterns, or associations and causal relationships in the themes, e.g., all people who attended programs in the evening had similar concerns, most people came from the same geographic area, most people were in the same salary range, what processes or events respondents experience during the program, etc.
  5. Keep all commentary for several years after completion in case  it shall be needed for future reference.

Interpreting Information:

  1. Attempt to put the information in perspective, e.g., compare results to what you expected in the following categories: like trainers/instructors pre-training activity, preparation of facilities, design and delivery, training facilities and resources, management of program staff like support staff; indicate the description of the program’s experiences, strengths, weaknesses, etc. (especially if you’re conducting a process evaluation).
  2. Consider recommendations to help program staff improve the program, conclusions about program operations or meeting  goals, etc.
  3. Record conclusions and recommendations in a report document, and associate interpretations to justify your conclusions or recommendations.
  4. Submit recommendations to the supervisor/administrator, as needed.