Case Studies:
are used to collect in-depth information about the experiences of a program on a single participant or site. A case study can simply be the story of one person’s experience related to a program
Convening:
bringing people together; creating environments in which people can share information and options respectfully.
Evaluation:
encompasses activities that enable judgment of the worth or merit of an evaluation object such as programs, policies, organizations, products, or individuals - the process of asking good questions, gathering information to answer them and making decisions based on those answers.
Focus Groups:
group discussions used for encouraging a group of people to share their feelings and perceptions. Although led by a facilitator with a discussion guide, these conversations often flow naturally and explore unexpected or unintended areas. The qualitative analysis should focus on the areas where participants’ responses converged and the tone or feeling that accompanied those responses.
Formative Evaluation:
helps with both the development of a project and adjustments and improvements to the project as it is implemented. Formative evaluations provide information related to how well the project is designed, planned, and operating.
Goals:
descend from and are validated by the vision; summarize the major accomplishments the organization hopes to achieve in order to realize its vision and fulfill its mission; are general and not quantifiable, can be short or long term.
Indicators:
are specific items of information that track a program’s success. They describe observable, measurable characteristics or changes that represent achievement of an outcome and they help to define what information must be collected to answer evaluation questions.
Interviews:
are telephone or face-to-face discussions with an individual respondent or a group of people. They provide the opportunity to probe and explore responses given. Interviews are useful in collecting sensitive information that respondents may not wish to write down. Focus groups are a type of group interview.
Mission:
describes why the organization exists; summarizes what the organization does, for whom, and the benefits/contribution to society.
Objective:
supports the goals and provides more details as to “who will do what by when”; SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, and Time-determined.
Outcome Measurement:
is a process of regular monitoring of the results of a program for its participants or organization against agreed-upon goals and objectives.
Process Evaluation:
an example of formative evaluation - used to determine if a program is reaching the desired target group and if it is being delivered in the way it was planned.
Qualitative Data:
record, observation, opinion, or words and typically from asking open-ended questions to which the answers are not limited by a set of choices or a scale. Qualitative data are best used for questions that produce too many possible answers to list them all, or if it is preferable to have people answer in their own words. Qualitative data are more time-consuming to analyze than quantitative data.
Quantitative Data:
capture information that is numeric including variables like personal income, amount of time, or a rating of an opinion on a scale from 1 – 5. Quantitative data are used with close-ended questions where users are given a limited set of possible answers. They are best for responses that fall into a relatively narrow range of possible answers.
Questionnaires and Surveys:
A questionnaire is a uniform written tool completed by a group of respondents that is useful in gathering focused, limited information. This information can be used to generalize about a population or to get a total count of the aspects concerning a group of people. Questions can range from being close-ended (for limited and easy-to-analyze responses), to open-ended (with room for a variety and explanation of responses). Questionnaires are sometimes referred to as surveys but surveys are not necessarily completed by respondents in written form. A survey can be in the form of an interview.
Random Sampling:
is a process by which people in a sample are chosen at random from a given population. For example, everyone in the population of 100 people can be assigned a unique number, then the numbers are put in a hat, and 40 numbers are drawn to choose 40 people to be in that sample. In a random sample, all of the people in the populations have an equal chance of being chosen.
Sample:
is a number of people in a population from whom you should collect information in order to generalize about that population with some degree of accuracy.
Social Capital:
relationships that link us to others (community activities, clubs, neighborhood associations and other less formal networks) and that create our sense of belonging to a community; the glue that holds communities together.
Stakeholders:
individuals or groups that have a stake in the success of the organization and should play a role in it.
Summative Evaluation:
provides summary information about the outcomes or results of a project after activities or services have been operating for some time. A summative evaluation involves judgments of cause and effect, in particular the effectiveness and worth of a project’s activities in improving the problems being addressed.
Vision:
inspires and directs all aspects of the organization guided by dreams, not constraints; describes what the organization hopes will happen if dreams are realized; the force that results in engagement of donors, volunteers and others.
QUESTIONS? Call the Foundation Office at (505) 883-6240 or e-mail us at foundation@albuquerquefoundation.org
